4 ms·

What do you think of print on demand services such as Amazon's createspace.com?

by jakewolf 18y ago

dcurtis 18y ago
I have a feeling he'd be able to get a traditional publisher pretty easily.
- jakewolf 18y ago
  With a traditional publisher you usually get a royalty of about 10-15% versus 4-6 times that with print on demand. Announce publication on YC and let bloggers promote with amazon affiliate links. Everyone wins but Barnes and Noble.
  - eyudkowsky 18y ago
    With a traditional publisher and a good book, you can easily get more than 4-6 times the sales. Sorry, gatekeepers can still be pretty effective, even in this day and age.
    - Kaizyn 18y ago
      Question: if a publisher pays the author 4-6x the revenues brought in for the book, wouldn't that mean that on any 'good' books, they're losing money to publish them? Or am I missing something?
      - thinkcomp 18y ago
        I just had to set the price of my own book, so I quickly learned where all the money goes. If the MSRP is $25.95, as mine is, then distributors who sell the book to bookstores or sites will require a 55% discount right away. That means that per copy, the publisher receives 45%, or $11.68. Of that 45%, a publisher might typically pay the author 10%, or $1.17 per copy. The printing costs are probably in the $3.50 (China) to $6.50 (United States) range, so the publisher stands to profit anywhere in the $7.01 (China) to $4.01 (United States) range. When you print on demand, your printing costs are twice as high per copy, but since there's no middleman, you make more as an author. Of course, it's impossible to distribute, so it doesn't really matter. It's only a good option if you really only intend to sell a few copies to friends and family.
        mattmaroon 18y ago
        A decent book contract is more on the order of 10% of list price, with increases at certain volume levels.
    - mattmaroon 18y ago
      This is 100% correct. My book sold over 100k copies the traditional route, there's no way it would have sold more than a few k with my pushing it myself, even though I had a widely read blog in the niche. It's just like the equity equation. Also, being published once makes it easier in the future should you desire to go that route, while self publishing does not. The way I see it, a writer self-publishing is like a hacker building his own servers and running them from his basement.
pg 18y ago
I don't like the low quality of the physical books these services produce.
- unalone 18y ago
  Really? I just made one with Lulu and I was pretty impressed with it. It was very well-done.
  - brianlash 18y ago
    I checked your profile but couldn't find it. Care to link us?
    - unalone 18y ago
      It's on Lulu here: http://www.lulu.com/content/2609902 http://www.lulu.com/content/2609902 It's moving to Amazon hopefully tomorrow, which is why I didn't link to it anywhere. I'll probably post it to reddit tomorrow at some time. Nonetheless: the book is very high-quality, if a bit glossy, and Lulu's store is a very effective one. There's a full preview, too.
  - Kaizyn 18y ago
    A friend of mine speaks highly of Lulu books as well, says the ones he printed out were the same quality as one you'd get mass produced from a major publisher.
    - unalone 18y ago
      That's what I think Lulu's marketing edge is, actually. It's free for you to publish, and the quality is surprisingly decent. I don't like thinking of it as self-publishing (I do intend to try my luck with agents and publishing houses, though). Rather, it's a sort of site for entrepreneurial writers. Your works sell entirely depending on your writing quality and on how well you advertise. The job falls on your shoulders. And you can pay Lulu to help, but come on, that would be cheating. ;-)
  - 18y ago

What do you think of print on demand services such as Amazon's createspace.com?

dcurtis 18y ago

I have a feeling he'd be able to get a traditional publisher pretty easily.

jakewolf 18y ago
With a traditional publisher you usually get a royalty of about 10-15% versus 4-6 times that with print on demand. Announce publication on YC and let bloggers promote with amazon affiliate links. Everyone wins but Barnes and Noble.
- eyudkowsky 18y ago
  With a traditional publisher and a good book, you can easily get more than 4-6 times the sales. Sorry, gatekeepers can still be pretty effective, even in this day and age.
  - Kaizyn 18y ago
    Question: if a publisher pays the author 4-6x the revenues brought in for the book, wouldn't that mean that on any 'good' books, they're losing money to publish them? Or am I missing something?
    - thinkcomp 18y ago
      I just had to set the price of my own book, so I quickly learned where all the money goes. If the MSRP is $25.95, as mine is, then distributors who sell the book to bookstores or sites will require a 55% discount right away. That means that per copy, the publisher receives 45%, or $11.68. Of that 45%, a publisher might typically pay the author 10%, or $1.17 per copy. The printing costs are probably in the $3.50 (China) to $6.50 (United States) range, so the publisher stands to profit anywhere in the $7.01 (China) to $4.01 (United States) range. When you print on demand, your printing costs are twice as high per copy, but since there's no middleman, you make more as an author. Of course, it's impossible to distribute, so it doesn't really matter. It's only a good option if you really only intend to sell a few copies to friends and family.
      - mattmaroon 18y ago
        A decent book contract is more on the order of 10% of list price, with increases at certain volume levels.
  - mattmaroon 18y ago
    This is 100% correct. My book sold over 100k copies the traditional route, there's no way it would have sold more than a few k with my pushing it myself, even though I had a widely read blog in the niche. It's just like the equity equation. Also, being published once makes it easier in the future should you desire to go that route, while self publishing does not. The way I see it, a writer self-publishing is like a hacker building his own servers and running them from his basement.

pg 18y ago

I don't like the low quality of the physical books these services produce.

unalone 18y ago
Really? I just made one with Lulu and I was pretty impressed with it. It was very well-done.
- brianlash 18y ago
  I checked your profile but couldn't find it. Care to link us?
  - unalone 18y ago
    It's on Lulu here: http://www.lulu.com/content/2609902 http://www.lulu.com/content/2609902 It's moving to Amazon hopefully tomorrow, which is why I didn't link to it anywhere. I'll probably post it to reddit tomorrow at some time. Nonetheless: the book is very high-quality, if a bit glossy, and Lulu's store is a very effective one. There's a full preview, too.
- Kaizyn 18y ago
  A friend of mine speaks highly of Lulu books as well, says the ones he printed out were the same quality as one you'd get mass produced from a major publisher.
  - unalone 18y ago
    That's what I think Lulu's marketing edge is, actually. It's free for you to publish, and the quality is surprisingly decent. I don't like thinking of it as self-publishing (I do intend to try my luck with agents and publishing houses, though). Rather, it's a sort of site for entrepreneurial writers. Your works sell entirely depending on your writing quality and on how well you advertise. The job falls on your shoulders. And you can pay Lulu to help, but come on, that would be cheating. ;-)
- 18y ago