At Dog Ear Publishing, determining the retail price of a book is a routine task.
There are various factors we consider when advising authors on setting a retail price. First, what type of genre does your book fall into—non-fiction, fiction, children’s, juvenile, self-help or something else? Some genres allow for higher retail prices or have less competition. For example, religious themed books are in high demand; as a result, retail prices for these books tend to be higher than traditional fiction.
Secondly, the cost to print your book will affect your retail price. Are your books printed traditionally or digitally? Digital printing increases the unit cost of your book compared to traditional printing. However, digital printing allows you to print as few as one book at a time.
Another factor in determining a retail price is bookstores—both traditional and online. Bookstores are in business to make money from the sale of books, so don’t forget they will expect to buy your books at a discount from the retail price. Typically, a traditional bookstore takes somewhere between a 30% – 50% discount off the retail price. Online bookstores can take up to a 55% discount. Some bookstores allow you to negotiate discounts while others are firm in their demands.
Remember, bookstores make their money from the wholesale discount. Higher wholesale discounts may open more retail avenues for the author. Dog Ear Publishing allows you to set your wholesale discount and book retail price at any level you like—most self-publishing companies do not. This is a terrific question to ask when kicking the tires of a self-publishing company.
The major ISBN registration agency, Bowker, recently collected retail price statistics:
Average Suggested (Printed) Book Retail Prices Last Year and How they Compare to Previous Year:
$27.52 for adult hardcover (down $.10)
$25.08 for adult fiction hardcover (unchanged)
$28.49 for adult nonfiction hardcover (down $.29)
$15.76 for adult trade paperbacks (up $.11)
$14.78 for adult fiction trade paperbacks (up $.07)
$16.16 for adult nonfiction trade paperbacks (up $.15)
$7.35 for adult mass-market paperback (up .07)
$16.09 for juvenile hardcover (up $.26)
Dog Ear Publishing recommends a book’s retail price be at LEAST 2.5 times the “single-copy print cost” to allow for standard trade discounts to book stores and distributors and libraries, and leave enough “gross margin” remaining so the author will enjoy a reasonable Net Sales Payment.
In the end, profit on a book sale will help fund future writing endeavors!
May you have success in your creative efforts.
Miles Nelson is a Co-founder and Partner at Dog Ear Publishing. Dog Ear Publishing is celebrating its 10 year anniversary in 2014. www.DogEarPublishing.net
By: Miles Nelson, Dog Ear Publishing
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