How to Set the Retail Price of Your New Book

When you’ve finished writing your book, and you’ve decided to self-publish, how will you determine the retail cover price for your book? Although current book prices may seem high, when you narrow the cost down to the bottom line, the reason may become clearly justified.

Keep in mind, if you pay a POD publisher (print on demand), most or all of the following may be included in your fee. When you obtain an estimate for POD publishing, check and see if it would be to your advantage to do-it-yourself. Remember, most often, paying a large sum of money to a POD publisher will not buy you any books. After your book is published, you will have to purchase your own books from them.

Starting from scratch, I will attempt to break the cost of book production down to the wire so you can estimate the cover price you will need to charge for your finished book. My estimates will be based on the average expense for a 5.5” x 8.5”, 200 page perfect paperback (soft cover) book.

Editorial cost – Unless you yourself are a professional editor or English major, we will assume your first real expense will be having your work edited. Cost - $400-$500

Layout cost – Although it’s not too difficult to layout the pages of your manuscript in book form, I strongly suggest having a professional do this for you, especially if you have an Index. Book printers take what you give them and print it. If you have even slightly misjudged the setup for your book, it can drastically change the final layout. Cost - $150-$250.
On an added note, visit http://www.48hrbooks.com/Templates.asp for some layout templates you can fill in yourself.

Cover Design – Your cover sells your book. Browsing customers who notice your cover amongst the hundreds of other books are obviously more likely to buy. Before you settle on a cover design, make sure you have researched what your customers will be looking for. Don’t skimp here. Cost - $100-$300

Printing cost – Your printing cost will vary according to how many books you order. For now, let’s assume you order the amount of books the average self-published author sells. We'll say 200 copies. Your cost will be $4.85 per book plus shipping cost.
(Again, 48 Hour Books is my favorite. They are an online company who print quality books for as reasonable a price as I’ve seen. Go to http://www.48hrbooks.com/ and enter the number of books, color pages, and zip code for shipping estimate.)

So let’s recap the cost of our 200 page book;
Editorial - $2.25 per book
Layout - $1.00 per book
Cover Design - $1.00 per book
Printing - $4.85
_________________________
Total cost per book - $9.05

Now that we know our expense for the physical book, what do we charge for it? Here’s where we now have to look at our “selling” expense.

Quite possibly, Amazon.com will be your biggest customer fulfillment source. Amazon charges a 55% commission on sales. Most wholesalers and distributers charge the same; some may be less (40-50%). But it is important to set your retail price where you can show a profit with even the highest commissioned distributor. We are most often responsible for the shipping cost to the distributer as well.

So will all this expense, we really need to set our retail price over $20 per book to make anything at all. But keep in mind; you will sell books to friends, at fairs, libraries, and some book stores, all where you will see a higher profit per book making the averages look a bit more appealing to you. Also, if sales are good, you might need to order more books, now the expense is reduced to the printing and shipping cost—looking better now?

Understand these estimates are for a retail product and do not yet include any type of wage for our time invested. The profit you estimate is your wage (before taxes).

My quotes may seem high at some level and low at others, but realistically, it’s not cheap to produce a book unless you want to end up with a cheap looking book!

Although these numbers may be disappointing to some, maybe we should we ask ourselves why we have the desire to write a book in the first place? If we are satisfying a dream, these estimates and financial mumbo jumbo will simply not matter. So enjoy the dream and if you can make a few bucks in the process, celebrate!

What a Book Deal!

Ever wanted to read A Book Inside, How to Write, Publish, and Sell Your Story, referred to as the “writer’s dream book” by Midwest Book Review with over 2,000 copies sold from this Website alone? The great news is that this book is now finally available as an E-Book. That’s right. For only $6.95 you can have the book delivered to your inbox in as little as one day! Why put it off any longer? Start writing your book or get started with the layout and publishing process now. Visit Author's Box E-Book Store.

If you would still prefer the original paperback, it is still available on my Author’s Box site or Amazon.com for $18.95.

Also now in E-Book, my latest release, Keep Your Sanity, Understanding and Coping With Stress in a Changing World. Also only $6.95.

If you’re ready to start marketing your new book, my E-Books, How to Organize a Virtual Book Tour and 100 Ways to Market Your Book for Free (or really cheap), previously $6.95 each, are now permanently price reduced to $3.99 at Author's Box E-Book store.

Finally, my very first release, Are You Ready to Be Your Own Boss? is permanently price reduced to $9.97 (msrp $14.95). Visit Author's Box.

Book Rights - Keep Em!

Why is it important to keep your book rights if possible? Because all publishers are not perfect and Publishers change editors, cover designers, and marketing staff as often as we change our underwear! This means they don’t always have quality control in check and things such as bad book design, poor editing (butchering), or slack on the marketing efforts can occur. When these problems and others arise, you are not in control and the final product may not be all you dreamed it would be; now you’re stuck with it. Let me share an example of this.

I wrote the most wonderful and helpful book on stress relief in 2008—it was published. This was possibly my best work ever; I was really proud of it and hoped it would help people to live a stress-free life. I had my own issues with stress and life was not fun. I also had developed a life-threatening illness directly related to stress. It was important to me to get the word out and help others conquer this problem before they too became ill from stress.

The book was accepted, and I celebrated. “Trust us,” I heard, “we are professionals at this”—so I did. I literally cried when I saw the cover image chosen for my book. I wrote e-mails and called begging for a change. Again I heard, “Trust us, we are professionals.” What choice did I have?—none. This is the cover the publisher designed for my book.

Not only is it repulsive even at a glance, but the title is not legible, the colors represent stress (green), and the text is silly looking. The publisher also eliminated all of my sub-chapters; making it difficult to easily locate the information a reader needs “stat” in a stressful situation. I am truly embarrassed by this book and have not helped in promoting it; I don’t even like seeing my name on the cover. FYI, it has sold 13 copies since 2008. So what now?

I am proud to announce I have re-published the book under a new title, complete text, and cover. This is a fabulous book I can now be proud of. Here is the new cover.

Although I would have liked the title to be larger, I am happy with the results and am thankful I kept the rights to my book! FYI, the image of the kids, is of my three girls! That makes it extra special to me!
Would love your honest opinion on the cover.

To see all my books, visit Author's Box

Welcome to My Blog for a BIG Blog Jog Day Deal!!

In celebration of Blog Jog Day, I am putting ALL my books on sale! Big discounts on A Book Inside, How to Write, Publish, and Sell Your Story and my brand new release, Keep Your Sanity, Understanding and Coping With Stress in a Changing World. Even my e-books are on sale. 100 Ways to Market Your Book for Free (or really cheap) and How to Organize a Virtual Book Tour are both just $3.97 for Blog Jog Day! Even better yet, ALL shipping is FREE to U.S. orders! See all my books and how to order at Author's Box.

When you're done looking around here, jog on over and meet Marilyn Meredith of Marilyn's Musings at http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com.

While you're here, please click on to "Follow" or if you have your own Blog, click "Follow Blog" just below it. Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy the rest of my Blog and have fun blog jogging today!

If you would like to visit a different Blog in the jog, go to http://blogjogday.blogspot.com.

Ning Me Out! Spruz Me in!

Many of you know how important social networking is for authors and how much fun it is to find great undiscovered books to read and enjoy. Ning.com sites were a wonderful place to get the best of all worlds—and for FREE!. Last week, Ning announced it would be charging for the use of their sites—bad news for all of us. When Ning begins to add a user fee, we will all pay the price. Site administrators will pay the fee and pass it on to their members. I don’t know about the rest of the Ning members, but I am registered to over 35 Ning sites as a member, and I am the administrator of three sites as well. So what do we do?

My Ning sites included one for new writers, one for published authors and book lovers, and the last for writing and publishing advice; I will be closing all three. Instead of having three Ning sites, I have now built one new FREE site at Spruz.com. The new site combines the needs of new writers, authors, and book lovers alike as one big happy family!

Are you tired of posting on numerous Ning Networks? Is your Ning site adding a user fee? Are several of your Networking friends disappearing? Please stop by my new Spruz site and see if it might just fit your needs. Remember, it’s fresh and new and may not presently have ALL your needs covered, but it will in the near future. The proposed membership count in the first 6 months is 1,500. I’m not wasting any more time or energy into having so many Ning memberships when all my friends are at just one; The new Author & Book Event Center at http://bookeventcenter.spruz.com. Please join me!

Hopefully Blogger won't start charging a fee!

Not Selling Books? Get Carded!

As an author, whether self or traditionally published, it is your responsibility to promote and market your book. I’m reminded of this because yesterday I met a wonderful lady with 9 published books (all traditionally published) who handed me not one, but three business cards; she had it covered.

When you meet someone, give them a card, When you mail a bill or letter, include a card. When you’re at the market, post one on the bulletin board. Leave your card anywhere you go. I drop at least three business cards per day somewhere!

Include on your cards, at minimum, your name and Website. DO NOT include your home address or personal phone number. For multi-published authors, I suggest, if possible, getting a separate card made for each of your books.

Think you can’t afford that many business cards? Just pay a small shipping fee and get 250 cards made FREE at Vista Print online. CLICK HERE to get started. Remember, book sales are your responsibility. No action, no sales!

Reminder:
Get your book Website or Blog seen by signing up for Blog Jog Day at http://blogjogday.blogspot.com.

How to Write a Great and Effective Title

While a catchy book title will attract the eye of a potential buyer, for non-fiction it may not be your books’ strongest selling asset. The words themselves may hold more than you may realize.

According to Google, fifty percent of all books are now sold over the Internet. Amazon.com sales accounted for 5.96 billion dollars of those sales last year; these numbers are expected to rise in the upcoming years. Although this may be bad news for the traditional brick and mortar book stores, it’s good news for online sellers. Knowing how to have your book found through search inquiries on sites such as Google and Yahoo has become crucial to selling books. Online visibility begins with your book’s title.

Title Search
When a person is looking for specific information on the World Wide Web, they enter words related to their interests in the search box online. Each word they type in is called a “keyword” or “key phrase.” The Search Engines use these words or phrases to find the most relevant list of related Websites. These sites are then displayed for the user.

When deciding on your books title, one important thing to consider is the incorporation of good keywords. For instance, if you’re writing a book on golf tips for beginners, a title such as Golf Is Fun may not return as many Search Engine results for your book as the title Golf Tips for the Beginner.

Before you write your book title, make a list of all related keywords and perform a search on Google to see what comes up in the results. Also, when you do your search, the first page shown should have a short list of other suggested keywords or phrases (usually at the very top or bottom of the page). Incorporating as many of these words into your book title as is possible will help your book be seen better in the future.

Fiction books may not be as specifically searchable online as non-fiction, but fiction book writers can benefit from good keyword titles as well. One or two related words in a title can make a big improvement in Search Engine results. Again, what will end users be looking for when they search for a book like yours?

The Letter A
Once again, most books are sold online; making your online presence and visibility very important to selling your books. It’s likely, as a writer, you will be networking with others online.

As silly as it may sound, books with titles beginning with the letter “A” may be more visible than a book which begins with the letter “Z.” Many Websites and Blogs have sidebar lists of the books they enjoy or recommend to their Website visitors. Some of these create their lists in alphabetical order; placing your book which begins with the letter A at the top of the list. Top listings receive 17% more hits than lower placed listings.

These same Website and Blog editors often “swap” URL links with the editors of other related sites and list those links on their Web page. If and when you create your own Website and/or Blog, you might consider doing the same with your site’s title, that is, begin the title with the letter A (example: A Book Inside). These link lists are also posted by Blogger automatically in alphabetical order as well.

Keep in mind; starting with the letter A is not mandatory for higher placements in listings online. For instance, starting with the letter D is good, C is better, B is great, but A is the best. Also, numbers generally precede letters in Web listings. 101 Ways to Learn the Game of Golf would be listed before An Easy Way to Learn the Game of Golf.

As always, I respect and appreciate readers comments to this post.

Is Google Really Changing its Name?

So is Google really called "Topeka" now? According to the search box, yes. Why? They say they like the name and quoted, “all roads lead to Kansas.” When you click on the Google logo, there is a long explanation for the change. This is big news and may take some time to get used to. Personally, I don’t see it as a smart move, but then again, I’m not as in-tune as the Google promotional team is.

So what is Google and how did they originate? Here’s the story from Wikipedia.

Google began in January 1996 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were both PhD students at Stanford University in California While conventional search engines ranked results by counting how many times the search terms appeared on the page, the two theorized about a better system that analyzed the relationships between websites. They called this new technology PageRank, where a website's relevance was determined by the number of pages, and the importance of those pages, that linked back to the original site. A small search engine called Rankdex was already exploring a similar strategy. Page and Brin originally nicknamed their new search engine "BackRub," because the system checked backlinks to estimate the importance of a site. Eventually, they changed the name to Google, originating from a misspelling of the word "googol", the number one followed by one hundred zeros, which was meant to signify the amount of information the search engine was to handle. Originally, Google ran under the Stanford University website, with the domain google.stanford.edu. The domain google.com was registered on September 15, 1997, and the company was incorporated on September 4, 1998, at a friend's garage in Menlo Park, California.

Article link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google

So the next time you want to say to someone “Google it,” remember, it’s “Topeka it” now! Or could it be April 1st?

Great Opportunity to Get Your Blog Seen!

Plug Your Blog! I'll be there! Potentially thousands of hits in one day! Long-term results! Permanent links! Join me for Blog Jog Day on May 9.
Learn more at http://blogjogday.blogspot.com

THE PROMOTIONAL EVENT FOR THE WRITING INDUSTRY IS BACK!

PROMO DAY makes its return in 2010 and promises to be the best yet. Mark your calendars for Saturday 15th May 2010!

An all day, online, international event for people in the writing industry packed full of tips and advice along with a variety of opportunities for writers, publishers, editors, etc. to promote their work and services. Readers are also welcome to drop in and get to know the authors better in the forums, view the video trailers or read the sample chapters on site.

Founder and Organiser of the event, Jo Linsdell, had this to say “PROMO DAY came about because I was looking for opportunities to promote my books using the internet at little or no cost. After attending the Muse Online Writers Conference back in 2006, I searched the Internet for similar events aimed at what to do after you’ve written the book and found none. I decided to fill the void and so PROMO DAY was born. PROMO DAY is a great opportunity to network with other members of the industry, take part in online workshops and promote and best of all it’s FREE."

This year a new forums feature has been added to the site to make interaction even more International. There will be special sections for publishers to post their submission guidelines and give information to authors about their companies. Companies offering services (virtual assistants, website designers, illustrators, ghost writers, etc.) will also have a section where they can let attendees know more about what they offer.

Visit the website http://jolinsdell.tripod.com/promoday for more details of how you can be involved.

BE PART OF THE ACTION, BE PART OF PROMO DAY!