FOOTNOTES:
1 “Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookstore Sales Numbers Annual Update,” Foner Books website, accessed May 2013, http://www.fonerbooks.com/booksale.htm.
2 “Independent Bookstores Continue to Close,” February 17, 2012, http://www.care2.com/causes/independent-bookstores-continue-to-close.html.
3 “Barnes & Noble closing 20 stores a year over next decade – report,” January 29, 2013, http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2013/01/barnes-noble-closing-20-stores-a-year-over-next-decade---report.html.
4 “Barnes & Noble vs. Amazon: Book Wars Get More Interesting,” October 10, 2012, http://www.forbes.com/sites/lauraheller/2012/10/02/barnes-noble-vs-amazon-book-wars-get-more-interesting/.
5 “Target Kicks Kindle to the Curb, Will Best Buy Be Next?” May 3, 2013, http://www.forbes.com/sites/lauraheller/2012/05/03/target-kicks-kindle-to-the-curb-will-best-buy-be-next/.
6 “4.7 Million Novels Rejected Annually,” Bella Rosa Books, accessed May 2013, http://writersinfo.info/mediakit%20Folder/5MillionRejections.pdf.
7 “Publishing Market Shows Steady Title Growth in 2011 Fueled Largely by SelfPublishing Sector,” June 5, 2012, http://www.bowker.com/en-US/aboutus/press_room/2012/pr_06052012.shtml.
8 Chris Anderson, “A Bookselling Tail: Why Publishers Should Focus on the Misses Instead of the Hits,” Soapbox, Publisher’s Weekly, July 14, 2006, http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/soapbox/article/6153-a-bookselling-tail.html.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 “SelfPublishing Sees Triple-Digit Growth in Just Five Years, Says Bowker,” October 24, 2012, http://www.bowker.com/en-US/aboutus/press_room/2012/pr_10242012.shtml.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 SelfPublishing in the United States, 2007–2012. http://www.bowker.com/assets/downloads/products/selfpublishingpubcounts_2007_2012.pdf.
16 Jason Boog, “E-Book Revenues Top Hardcover,” June 15, 2012, http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/e-books-top-hardcover-revenues-in-q1_b53090.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 AAP Monthly StatShot, March 2012, http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/52611-aap-monthly-statshot-march-2012.html.
20 Jason Greenfield, “E-Retailers Now Accounting for Nearly Half of Book Purchases by Volume, Overtake Physical Retail,” March 18, 2013, http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/e-retailers-now-accounting-for-nearly-half-of-book-purchases-by-volume/.
21 Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading, The Book Industry Study Group, November 2012.
22 Alina Tugend, “Options for SelfPublishing Proliferate, Easing the Bar to Entry,” July 29, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/30/your-money/the-rise-in-self-publishing-opens-the-door-for-aspiring-writers.html.
23 Instructions for applying for ISBNs can be found at http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/us/secureapp.asp.
24 Bar codes can be purchased from Bowker at http://www.bowkerbarcode.com/barcode/. More information about bar codes can be found at http://www.bowkerbarcode.com/barcode/faqs.asp.
25 The LCCN application can be found at http://pcn.loc.gov/pcn007.html.
26 “I’ve Submitted My Application, Fee, and Copy of My Work to the Copyright Office. Now What?” US Copyright Office, accessed August 2013, http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-what.html.
27 https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/.
28 https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/ExpandedDistribution.jsp.
29 Ibid.
30 Author Solutions, Inc., listing, Better Business Bureau, accessed May 13, 2013, http://www.bbb.org/indianapolis/business-reviews/publishers-book/author-solutions-inc-in-bloomington-in-32002554.
31 Lulu Press, Inc., listing, Better Business Bureau, accessed May 13, 2013, http://www.bbb.org/raleigh-durham/business-reviews/internet-marketers/lulu-press-in-raleigh-nc-90003737.
32 “Browser Statistics and Trends,” accessed May 13, 2013, http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp.
33 Before you lambast a publisher because its site doesn’t look great in your browser, make sure you’re using the most up-to-date version of that browser. Most companies, big and small, aren’t optimizing their sites to look great on outdated browsers. So, if you’re still using Internet Explorer 6 and a site looks bad, that’s on you.
34 Mark Levine, “How Author Solutions Did $100,000,000 in Sales,” July 6, 2012, http://publishingrevolution.com/2012/07/06/how-author-solutions-did-100000000-in-sales/.
35 Emily Suess, “Author Solutions & iUniverse Complaints: The Complete Index,” updated July 19, 2012, http://blog.emilysuess.com/iuniverse-complaints-complete-index/.
36 Amanda Taylor, “Author Solutions: The Evil Galactic Empire of Self-Publishing,” July 30, 2012, http://newbieauthorsguide.com/2012/07/30/author-solutions-the-evil-galactic-empire-of-self-publishing/.
37 What is and isn’t a “reasonable price” for your own books is a personal call—but turn to chapter 8 for a look at the printing markups of several publishers. You may be surprised.
38 Most brick-and-mortar retailers won’t buy books that they can’t return. A returns program allows a retailer to return unsold copies to the wholesaler, distributor, or publisher from whom they purchased the book.
39 All of Lightning Source’s stated rates for paperbacks, hardcovers, and color options can be found in appendix A.
40 There are situations where Amazon may order books from Lightning Source in advance of an online order, but this happens mostly in cases where there is an order history of the book to support it.
41 When I asked a customer service representative to explain the fee, the employee said, “I imagine the difference is our copyright is just at a higher level for security purposes. There is probably not anything unsecure with your copyright; we just want to make sure we are covered.”
42 AuthorHouse’s Library Email Blast, accessed August 2013, http://www.authorhouse.com/Servicestore/ServiceDetail.aspx?ServiceId=PKG-3396.
43 “Email Newsletter Benchmarks: Open Rates, CTRs, Subject Lines,” http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2013/11438/email-newsletter-benchmarks-open-rates-subject-lines-scheduling.
44 “Email Open and Click-Through Rates: Benchmarks by Vertical,” accessed August 2013, http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2013/10751/email-open-and-click-through-rates-benchmarks-by-industry.
45 “10 Horrifying Stats about Display Advertising,” accessed August 2013, http://blog.hubspot.com/horrifying-display-advertising-stats.
46 None of the termination options under Article Six can be easily exercised by the author. Morgan James would have to be in breach of the publishing contract or insolvent for an author to terminate the contract.
47 Arbitration rules are available at www.adr.org or by calling 1-800-778-7879 (in the United States).
48 Lee Rainie and Maeve Duggan, “E-Book Reading Jumps; Print Book Reading Declines,” Pew Research Center, December 27, 2012, http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/12/27/ebook-reading-jumps-print-book-reading-declines/.
49 Ibid.
50 Ibid.
51 “Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading” Volume Four, April 2013 (sample PDF), http://www.bisg.org/docs/ConsumerAttitudes_Volume4Report1_sample.pdf.
52 “eBooks Now MultiBillion Dollar Category for Amazon,” January 30, 2013, http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/ebooks-now-multibillion-dollar-category-for-amazon_b64529.
53 Lee Rainie et al., “The Rise of EReading,” Pew Research Center, April 4, 2012, http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/04/04/the-rise-of-e-reading/.
54 Ibid.
55 Ibid.
56 Julie Bosman, “Paperback Publishers Quicken Their Pace,” The New York Times, July 26, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/books/e-books-accelerate-paperback-publishers-release-dates.html.
57 Penguin and Random House announced their merger in October 2012; the merger was completed in mid-2013. From “Random House, Penguin Merger Completed,” July 1, 2013, http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/industry-deals/article/58047-random-house-penguin-merger-completed.html.
59 Nate Hoffelder, “B&N Launches Nook Press—A New Way to Make and Sell eBooks,” April 9, 2013, http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2013/04/09/bn-launches-nookpress-a-new-way-to-make-and-sell-ebooks/.
60 “International ISBN Agency FAQs,” accessed May 2013, http://www.isbn-international.org/faqs.
61 Kindle formatting guidelines can be found at https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A17W8UM0MMSQX6.
62 “Frequently Asked Questions About NOOK Press,” accessed April 2013, https://www.nookpress.com/support/faq.
63 Metadata is information about a book, like its ISBN number, title, author name, price, publisher, and publication date, that is submitted to retailers and wholesalers. To learn more about metadata, download the Book Industry Study Group’s “Product Metadata Best Practices for Data Senders,” found here: http://www.bisg.org/docs/Best_Practices_Document.pdf.
64 The trade discount/retailer fees are courtesy of http://www.publishgreen.com/retailer-fees and are subject to change. Always check with specific retailers for their most up-to-date fees.
65 Assuming the author uploads the e-book directly to the reseller; otherwise, this is the royalty prior to deducting a publisher’s share of sales revenue.
66 Google’s “Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide” can be found here: http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en/us/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf.
67 https://adwords.google.com/ko/KeywordPlanner/Home . You will need to set up a Google AdWords account in order to use the tool, but setup is free.
68 http://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2470029 . Also, see http://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2497836 for a description of Google Keyword Match Types.
69 http://www.copyblogger.com/content-marketing-research-5/.
70 https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/home?hl=en and click on the “Add a Site” button.
71 http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/smallbusiness/store/promote/sitemap/sitemap-06.html.
72 http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster.
73 You can read more about connecting with professional bloggers at http://www.publiceye.com/getting-blogger-reviews-for-your-book/.
76 Technorati Media 2013 Digital Influence Report, http://technorati.com/business/article/technorati-medias-2013-digital-influence-report/. based on information contained in users’ social media
77 Bing’s FAQ section on the differences between search and content ads may be helpful: http://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/help-topic/how-to/moonshot_conc_searchadscontentads.htm/differences-between-searchads-and-content-ads.
78 Learn more about Goodreads’s advertising options at http://www.goodreads.com/advertisers.
79 http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/787687-goodreads-ads---yay-or-nay; http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/768512-advertising-on-goodreads---who-s-tried-it-how-d-it-go.
80 https://www.facebook.com/advertising.
81 https://business.twitter.com/products/twitter-ads-self-service.
82 www.linkedin.com/advertising.
83 Lightning Source does offer the option to set the trade discount between 20 percent and 55 percent and only at the publisher level. (If you publish directly with Lightning Source, you’d be the publisher.) But, you can only choose one trade discount for both wholesale and retail. Some self-publishing companies allow you to set the trade discount within this range. Setting it below 40 percent almost guarantees no bookstore or other brick-and-mortar retailer will buy the book, as most require a minimum 40 percent trade discount. I use 55 percent in all my examples, as that is the highest the trade discount will be, and I calculate all costs and royalties with that as a baseline.
84 If you publish through CreateSpace and use its standard distribution program, CreateSpace’s trade discount is 40 percent. If you use CreateSpace’s “Expanded Distribution” program, the trade discount jumps to 60 percent, and there may be times when you sell a book on Amazon and make a 60 percent profit and other times when you make a 40 percent profit. For more information, see https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/ExpandedDistribution.jsp.
85 There are cases where certain nonfiction books in this page range (e.g., reference books) could command a higher retail price point.
86 This example is based on a 200-page paperback with a black-and-white interior, at a 55 percent trade discount, where the publisher is not taking any royalty: $14.99 (retail price) – $8.22 (55 percent trade discount) – $[X] (print cost) – $0 (publisher takes no royalty) = Author Royalty.
87 http://www.abbottpress.com/faq/pricing.aspx#Calculate, http://www.archwaypublishing.com/faq/pricing.aspx#Calculate, http://www.balboapress.com/faq/pricing.aspx#Calculate, http://www.crossbooks.com/help/royalties.aspx, http://www.westbowpress.com/FAQ/Pricing.aspx.
88 http://www.iuniverse.com/faqs/royalties.aspx, http://www.trafford.com/FAQ/Pricing.aspx, http://www2.xlibris.com/faq_pricing_royalties.html#royalty, http://www.authorhouse.com/pricingcalculator/pricingcalc.aspx . Select “black and white” and “regular pricing.” AuthorHouse offers a “flex pricing” option where you can set the retail price lower but for a $250 fee. See http://www.authorhouse.com/Servicestore/ServiceDetail.aspx?ServiceId=BS-2680.
89 This chart assumes that all books use Lightning Source and have a print cost of $0.90 for the cover + $0.015/page. A printer that uses its own in-house printer may experience a slightly different print cost.
90 From an email with Abbott Press customer service: “Print cost on a 200-page soft cover book is $3.75.”
91 I was able to get very little out of Arbor Books via email: “If you want to speak on the phone, give me a call. Otherwise I can’t help you.”
92 Print cost (or Cost of Goods Sold) provided in an email with Archway Publishing customer service: “I estimate the COGS [the cost to produce/print the book] will be around $3.75.”
93 AuthorHouse does not publish this information, and none of my three emails were acknowledged.
94 Print cost calculated by $0.90 cover cost + $0.015/page, as shown on http://www.aventinepress.com/pub_agree.html.
95 Balboa Press customer service declined to answer my question about print costs; however, on http://www.balboapress.com/FAQ/Pricing.aspx#Calculate , the COGS is the same as other Author Solutions sites, so the “print cost” may be the $3.75 stated by its sister companies.
96 I emailed to ask the print cost, and a BookLocker representative told me, “We do not publish our printer’s costs.”
97 CreateSpace prints in-house, thus they are able to print for lower actual costs than Lightning Source. The print cost is quoted in the Member Order Calculator under the Buying Copies tab of https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/.
98 I emailed CrossBooks to inquire about the Cost of Goods Sold for a book that retails between $13.99 and $14.99 and was told, “Don’t hold my feet to fire on this but it should be $3.50 to $3.75, give or take $0.25! Yes the COGS is based on page count.” For this example, I use the print cost of $3.75 that other Author Solutions companies quoted me. Also, at http://www.crossbooks.com/help/royalties.aspx, note that the COGS is the same as on other Author Solutions company sites.
99 Print cost calculated by $1.28 unit cost + $0.02/page, as shown on http://dogearpublishing.net/ak-author-purchase-prices.php.
100 Dorrance does not provide this information, and when I contacted an employee via email, that employee declined to answer.
101 Infinity customer service told me they do not provide the print cost to authors.
102 I asked an iUniverse representative via Live Chat what the print cost would be, and he told me, “The print cost would probably be around 40 percent of the retail price [$14.95]. That would come out to $5.98.” I was quoted a similar number during a Live Chat with a customer service representative.
103 On http://www.llumina.com/pricingbooks.htm, Llumina mentions that they multiply the number of pages by the print cost per page and add this to the cover cost to get the total print cost. However, Llumina’s customer service did not respond to my email request for more information on the print cost per page.
104 Lulu’s “Manufacturing cost per unit” is shown on the Retail Book Cost Calculator found at http://www.lulu.com/includes/calc_retail_inc.php.
105 Cost per book calculated by $2/unit + $.015/page as shown on http://www.magicvalleypub.com/publishingagreement.pdf.
106 Actual print cost shown at http://www.millcitypress.net/book-printing-costs and can vary depending on the specific printer.
107 “The $5.37 [you were quoted to order copies of your 200-page book] is the cost to print your book.” From emails with an Outskirts Press representative.
108 By this point, PublishAmerica customer service had informed me that they would not answer any further questions via email until they had received and accepted my manuscript.
109 Tate Publishing representatives declined to answer further questions until they received and accepted my manuscript.
110 In response to my inquiry regarding print costs, Trafford customer service told me my retail price. When I responded to clarify my inquiry, my email was ignored.
111 My emailed inquiries about print costs were ignored.
112 By this point in our correspondence, WestBow customer service had informed me they would no longer be answering my emailed questions and that I would need to call the company to discuss anything further.
113 WinePress live support confirmed that there is a markup on print costs, but declined to share what that markup is.
114 Three emails to Xlibris customer service were ignored. None of my inquiries received a response.
115 The production/print cost of $3.99 is shown on http://www.xulonpress.com/royalties/royalty-rates.php in the example royalty calculations for a $15.99 book, which has a page count between 226 and 248 as shown on http://www.xulonpress.com/services/book-retail-pricing.php . I could not get anyone at Xulon Press to tell me the print cost for a 200-page book.
116 In the chart entitled “Author Royalties on Printed Book Sales” found in the next section of this book, you see how some publishing companies require that authors set higher retail prices for their books that are the exact same trim size, format, and page count as cheaper books by other publishers. For companies that base the author’s purchase price of books on the retail price, even slightly higher retail prices can mean much higher printing costs for you.
117 Prices shown reflect the cost to purchase a single book. Volume discounts and retail prices are shown in appendix E.
118 This chart assumes that all publishers use Lightning Source. A publisher that uses its own in-house printer might experience a slightly different print cost.
119 Author purchase price equal to the list price minus 30 percent, as shown at http://www.abbottpress.com/FAQ/Pricing.aspx#.
120 Arbor Books does not publish pricing information on its website and neglected to provide further information via email.
121 Author purchase price shown at http://www.archwaypublishing.com/FAQ/Pricing.aspx.
122 AuthorHouse retail price is $16.95 under “regular pricing” as shown at http://www.authorhouse.com/pricingcalculator/pricingcalc.aspx.
123 Author purchase price equal to list price minus 30 percent, as shown at http://www.authorhouse.com/FAQ/BookOrder.aspx.
124 Aventine’s retail price is $12.95, as shown on http://www.aventinepress.com/faqs.html#price.
125 Author purchase price equal to actual print cost plus 13 percent, as shown at http://www.aventinepress.com/faqs.html#cost.
126 Author purchase price equal to the list price minus 30 percent, as shown at http://www.balboapress.com/FAQ/Pricing.aspx#volume.
127 Author purchase price shown at https://secure.booklocker.com/booklocker/book/AuthorDiscounts022811.pd
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