A 20 Dollar Paperback?

[ponyboy314]

Either I'm doing something wrong, or someone is trying to make sure that my book never sees a single sale.  My project is a standard 4.25" x 6.875" (basic paperback size) with 374 pages.  The price calulator said that the minimum cost is $20.46!  I have a million books of this basic size on my book shelf, and they're all about $8.00.  Who in the hell is calulating this?  And how am I supposed to sell a single book if they're going to charge twenty bucks for a simple paperback?  What the hell is going on here?

[sophierj]

If you go on to the book cost calculator (under My Lulu, on the left sidebar) you can see the manufacturing costs.. I have just put in the dimensions and page count for your book, and it comes up with a manufacturing cost of $11.98 (£7.52 in my money!)... so this is the cheapest (unless buying in bulk) the cost to produce the book would be, and if you did not assign an ISBN this is what you would pay, so you could set your retail price at anything above this. This is without a lulu ISBN...

I guess with big publishers they get economies of scale, so they can still make a profit when selling books at $8. However, lulu is print on demand, and so the economies of scale go out the window! (unless you choose to buy in bulk, when you do get discounts for anything over 25 copies).

What I have noticed is that if you want a 'free' lulu ISBN (ie you select the 3rd option at the start of the creation wizard, to assign an ISBN, no distribution package) the base cost jumps up to £10.29 (sorry I can't see this in $$). I have never worked out why, for a 'free' barcode the base cost of the book is more... In my mind, that is not then 'free'.

If you have selected to add distribution, this then includes the mark up for the company, ie Amazon. If you look at the Print Retail Calculator (a couple of lines below the Book Cost Calculator), with the same information and a $1 retail royalty (switched back to $$ now), your book comes out at a retail price of $22.96. It does break it down for you, as:

retail royalty for you of $1

Lulu royalty fee $0.25

Manufacturing cost per unit $10.23

Retail markup $11.48

Retail Price is all these added together = $22.96

I know this does not answer your query, but breaks it down for you hopefully.. sorry about the switch between ££ and $$! 

[ponyboy314]

So, printing my book is expensive to the point that I have ZERO chance of selling a single copy?  What the hell am I supposed to do?  Simply put, NO ONE is going to buy a $20 paperback.  No one.  I can't lower the cost, I can't sell it at the current cost...so, it looks like I'm screwed before I even really begin.

[dubhdara]

I tried the pocket-size first, and then the 6 X 9. The latter is a LOT cheaper even though it is bigger. I think this must be because of 2 (maybe three) reasons:

1. Although I increased the font size by two points, the page count was still 100 less than the pocketsize.

2. The page paper is thinner (actually nearer to "real" novel paper) than the pocketsize white paper

3. Possibly it is a more standard trim size and cheaper to print?

My 332-page pocketsize novel came out to £8.39. The 6 X9 (at 232 pages) came out at - wait for it - £5.39 ! £3 whole pounds cheaper! 

[sophierj]

I would be frustrated too.. I don't assign ISBN, but that is because I publish educational material for a niche market, and so I haven't found the need to. I keep my costs down that way. 

I am sure other lulu users, when they get on here, who have had experience of selling with ISBN etc, can give you further guidance... good luck.

[Ken Anderson]

Ponyboy you have to understand that these are one off prices using the Print On Demand technology. If you want to sell books at the sort of prices you see in shops then you need to use the services of a traditional printer and but books in multiple thousands. That is the same for any product be it a book or a motor car.

[ponyboy314]

I understand that just fine, because I'm not an idiot.  But how exactly do you expect me to react when any chance of selling a single copy vanishes before my eyes because a website that's designed to sell books is too expensive to sell any?

[Peter May]

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ponyboy314 wrote:

Either I'm doing something wrong, or someone is trying to make sure that my book never sees a single sale.  My project is a standard 4.25" x 6.875" (basic paperback size) with 374 pages.  The price calulator said that the minimum cost is $20.46!  I

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That doesn't sound correct.

I've just done a 712 page 6x9 paperback which costs about $20 

Have you selected the colour option by mistake?

[ponyboy314]

Nope, not at all.  I selected black and white, but with a full color cover.  You can perhaps see my confusion here.

[CeeDub]

Ponyboy, I just published my first book (374 pages also, go figure) and was surprised at the pricing.  One thing I did was apply a 25% discount for sales that go through Lulu - this brought the price down to $18.74.  Still very high, but a little better.  I also published an e-book version priced at 1.99.  Good luck.