Print On Demand Book Publishing
The Print-on-demand Contract
Author: Linda A Lavid
Self publishing contracts are not created equal. When deciding on a POD company to publish your book, consider the following:
Royalties. This is the percentage that an author is paid after a book is sold. Royalties can be based on the gross sale (cover price) or the net sale (after trade discount, printing, tax, shipping, handling, or whatever charges are specified in the contract). Some publishers rave about royalties that are 20% of net. They claim this generous royalty is over three times higher than a royalty paid out by a traditional publisher, which is around 6%. But they are comparing apples and trucks. A traditional publisher pays 6% royalties because they are paying for everything else, i.e., printing, editing, marketing and advances. Now what is a subsidy publisher paying? Zero. Royalty payments can be paid quarterly or monthly. To illustrate, here are a few computations. All books are the same price with the same number of pages. Taxes, shipping and handling charges are not included.
On Gross Sales
Company 1. Offers a 10% royalty on the gross sales of a .00 book. .00 x .10 = .50 royalty.
On Net Sales,
Company 2. Offers a 20% royalty on net sales. .00 (book) – .25 (55% trade discount) – .90 (printing cost) = .85 (net) x 20% = $.57 royalty.
Company 3. Offers an 80% royalty on net sales. .00 (book) – .25 (55% trade discount)- .90 (printing cost) = .85 (net) x 80% = .28 royalty.
The computations show the difference in royalty rates. A 10% royalty on a gross sale (.50) is less than an 80% royalty on a net sale (.28). And the worst deal is a 20% royalty on a net sale ($.57).
In contract speak, understand that gross may be written as retail or cover, and net may be written as what the publisher actually receives from which the trade discount, shipping/handling, printing and returns costs are deducted. Royalties can also be computed from wholesale (after trade discount) or from invoice (after shipping and handling).
When evaluating a contract ask: Are royalties paid on gross, wholesale, invoice or net sales? What are the specific deductions? What percentage rate does the author receive? How often are royalty payments paid?
Author Copies. This is the cost of a book when an author orders it. Author copies are used for marketing purposes, to send out for review and for resale. The cost of author copies can be figured down from the cover price or up from the printing expense. It is more advantageous to purchase author copies that are priced up from the printing cost. This is similar to going into a car dealership and negotiating up from the dealer cost rather than down from the inflated sticker price. This is a difference that matters. The cost of author copies is very important since selling books directly to the reader has the best return rate.
Publication Format. Delineates who’s responsible for the appearance, price, production and manufacturing of the book. After you’ve written the darn thing, these aspects may be of little interest to you, but take the extra time to consider them. These facets make a huge difference. Here are four areas to evaluate.
First, check out their books. Go to Amazon and search the publishing company. Click on Books and type the company’s name into the Search field. Review them. How do they look, both inside and out? What are the cover prices? If the books appear lackluster or are overpriced, don’t give this subsidy publisher your business. Also, if you can’t find any of their books on Amazon, this may spell trouble. You’ll need to check further to see how their books are distributed.
Second, do you have input into the interior layout and size of the book? Besides text, a book’s layout – chapter headings, margins, line spacing, font size, overall measurement – determines the number of pages in a book. If author copies are based on printing costs, fewer pages equals lower printing charges, and lower printing charges increase the profit margin. Also, POD books, to stay competitive, should not be more than 300 pages. This can be problematic if you have a manuscript over 100K words. However, if you have input into the book’s formatting, layout adjustments can be made to accommodate more text.
Third, do you have a say in the pricing of the book? The price of the book is important for two reasons. Cover price affects the marketability of a book and, depending on the contract, determines the cost of author copies. The cover price is best set by the author. Subsidy publishers often overprice books so that they can overprice author copies. When a subsidy publisher refuses to tell you the cover price of your book before you sign the contract, don’t sign. Some publishers will not be so obvious, and instead say that it depends on the number of pages. Again, don’t settle for a non-answer. They’re in the publishing industry and should be able to look at a manuscript and come up with the number of pages with a fair amount of accuracy. To be competitive, a cover price must be comparable with traditionally published books.
Lastly, it is important to find out who distributes the book (i.e., Ingram Book Group, Baker & Taylor), and how much of a trade discount the subsidy publisher is offering. A discount of 55% off the cover price is generous and is an incentive for retailers to sell books. A hefty trade discount is one reason why some books on Amazon sell for less than retail. Again, when you review books on Amazon, check the cover prices. If they are discounted, you may sell more books.
Rights. Rights are ownership of your work. There are different kinds of rights – to name a few: print, electronic, foreign, movie – that can be passed from author to publisher. Nonexclusive rights are rights that remain with the author and are not given to the publisher. Exclusive rights are granted by the author to the publisher. It’s important to read the entire contract. Rights may be granted in more than one area of the contract. An advantage of self-publishing is that you maintain all rights, at all times.
Cancellation. Also known as Termination. Cancellation can be requested by either party. Read carefully for stipulations that may extend beyond the cancellation period.
Yearly Fee. Also called a maintenance fee. This fee, according to one contract, is based on the current information displayed, at the time of the charge, on the publisher’s web site. In other words the fee is in payment for the book space provided on the subsidy publisher’s web site. This is a fee that pays for their marketing. Avoid this charge.
Return Policy. Accepting returns are offered by some subsidy publishers. Not having a return policy is one reason why many retail outlets do not stock POD books. Return policy, if offered, should be clear.
Submission Cost. In the excitement of getting published, you may throw all caution to the wind and spend more money than is necessary. Assuming you keep start-up costs reasonable and select a company that has an author friendly contract, breaking even is doable, especially when you sell directly to readers. However, if your main selling outlet is retail, you’ll have to sell a lot of books. To figure out how many books you’ll have to sell to break even, take your royalty per book then divide this into the amount you’re spending to publish. Let’s say you publish for 00 and your royalty is .57 (20% of net shown earlier on a .00 book). To recoup you’d have to sell more than 1754 books (1000/.57). And that’s a lot of books.
Related Fees. Unspecified related fees located anywhere in the contract need to spelled out. Galley edits, those changes done after the book is laid out, may be a type of related fee.
In summary, the ideal contract will allow you to: set the cover price, have a royalty rate of 80% or better on net sales, keep all rights (nonexclusive), have input into the size of book and number of pages, cancel at any time with no stipulations, have your book distributed and available to retail stores with a trade discount of 50% or more, purchase author copies that are priced from printing costs, not incur any yearly maintenance fees, and accept returns.
Beyond the ideal contract, there’s one more thing: the ideal subsidy publisher. This company will answer your questions, work with you, be available and give proper counsel. A writer should ask for no less.
Linda is the author of Composition: A Fiction Writer’s Guide for the 21st Century Download for .75
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/self-publishing-articles/the-printondemand-contract-325101.html
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Tagged with: author copies • cancellation • contract • cost • cover • distribution • format • gross sales • invoice • layout • maintenance fees • manuscript • net • pod • pricing of book • print on demand • publication • retail sales • rights • royalties • trade discount
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You can buy it as a turn key solution. See link for an example.
Lorena,
Bookstores such as Borders and Barnes & Noble get a discount when ordering from booksellers such as Ingram. When dealing with a POD publisher, it all depends on what deal they’ve made with that publisher to begin with. Ingram doesn’t stock POD books simply because the books are exactly that . . . Printed On Demand. On the other hand, if it’s a big seller they made stock a few, but only that. . . a few.
I self-published my first novel and it cost me plenty. I had to do all the leg work myself. It meant hiring an artist, a printer, and a distributor. My book was sold in bookstores, but not through Ingram.
PJ M
Have you checked out Blurb.com?
Their create-a-book template and ability for you to sell your books online or order them to sell yourself is terrific.
I’ve had numerous books printed through Blurb and have no complaints. Their system is easy to understand, they provide you with numerous templates to create your book, and the price for the different types of books available is very good.
I’ve included Blurb’s link below and hope their system is as beneficial for you as it has been for me.
Shirley George Frazier
Author and Small Business Owner
Yes. But it is an up hill battle because you do all the work and get little of the profits. However, I started my own publishing house which not only publishes my work but helps others do the same. If you want help email me.
I’ve asked this question many times since my POD book was released. From my research and chatting with others, I’ve learned that traditional publishers will consider a POD book and hold it up to the same high-quality standards as a MSS. Bottom line: It’s all about your platform and the number of copies sold (or potential of selling.)
At BEA, a publishing consultant told me of her recent conversation with a literary agent. The agent stated that publishers are now looking to contract books that have sold at least 4,000 copies. (She stated that the count used to be much higher).
Hope this helps….And much $uccess with your book!
You need to contact the religious radio stations and TV stations by sending them a nice intro letter and a copy of your book. Then follow up 2 weeks later if you have not received a call. The same for good morning talk shows. They are always looking for new stuff. You need to make a calendar and keep track to whom you mailed your inquiry to and what was sent then two week the date and review the responses. That is the only way to keep track. Just keep hitting the streets and different ideas will come to you.
I also used lulu after looking around. They don’t have an “vanity” type fee. You only pay for what you have printed and customers can buy your product directly from lulu, so your money is never wrapped up.
I published a photo/history book and felt their quality was reasonable.
I’ve heard bad things about Publish America and I know Lulu is pretty bare bones.
I think if I were PODing, I’d go with iUniverse. They’re pretty upfront – and they have an alliance with Barnes & Noble. There was just something about them on A.C. Crispin’s blog the other day…
Print-on-Demand would be a smart option if you want to control your book’s entire creative process. Most importantly, you control the number of books you want to have printed and you can even set the price for your book as well.However, POD published books hardly get into bookstores because of its non-returnable element.
In this case, you may want to opt for a bookstore returnability program should you wish to self-publish your book. This way, your book can get some space in bookstores and you can also assure book sellers that your title is returnable.
To know more about Print-on-Demand publishing:
http://bit.ly/1yrBrV
Greenwood and Scarecow Press both publish a lot of reference books. Try those 2 companies.
What POD (print on demand) service is best for self-published books?
I am looking for a reliable POD service where I can get:
a) Human support.
b) Printing.
c) Promotion assistance.
For a book 😀 thanks!
I have written a reference book on African films. How can I go about getting it published? Should I self pub
I have written a book with well over 400 pages. It’s a reference book on African films. It includes the writer, director, cast and a synopsis for each film. It also includes the country of origin and some historical info on each country represented. I’m just wondering how I can go about getting a book like this published fairly quickly. I’ve been considering self publishing and print-on-demand.
has anyone out there had success selling a book through a print on demand or on line publishing?
book publishers that publish books that have previously been published by print on demand publishers?
Just published my book by Print On Demand so I have to market it myself…what I’m wondering is does anybody
how to get in touch with religious corporation or publications for marketing? I’d like to look into nationwide advertising if possible. I have a website and a local bookstore helping me but I’m just starting out and need some guidance. Any suggestions?
Self Publishing: What is the best Print On Demand company?
I’m factoring in the quality of the book (I do a full color comic book which would probably only find a niche market at this point), distribution/availability (like that company owned by amazon.com), any proprietory software you need to buy, price, etc.
Question about print on demand book publishing.?
If a book is for sale on a website like amazon or borders and priced there at “x” amount of dollars, what percent of “x” would a bookstore or reseller expect to pay for the same book?
Are their book publishers like Createspace and LULU in Australia using Print on Demand online service?
I’m using Createspace and LULU using Print on Demand for printing and publishing my books online in USA and other countries in Europe. I’m willing to print and publish my books in Australia and looking for publishers using the same method Print on Demand for selling books online.
What is the best cost efficient process in publishing my book?
I am currently writing a book and I would like to know what steps I must take in order to get my book in stores and online.
Is it a smart move to go through a Print on Demand?
Do I need a barcode and ISBN number?
I need some advice please!
I would like to start my own Print on Demand book publishing company.?
What equipment do you need to start your own print on demand book publishing company?
I am interested in publishing my own books and taking on clients. I’ve been on the author end of POD several times but not the publisher end. I’m trying to find out what equipment you need to become a POD and I am having trouble finding an answer. Wondering if anybody out there has done this or knows of a website or book that contains the answers.