So I finally finished formatting TPN for Lulu, to put out a paperback. Big relief, yes? Big relief, no! Going through this for the first time I'm a babe-in-the-woods, don't you know. I finally got to the 'pricing' section of the on-demand publisher Lulu. Turns out unless I price my 284 page 6 X 9 inch paperback in the $25 range, I don't make a dime, literally, off each unit sold. How is it possible for a new author, unknown to the public at large, to expect a stranger to spend $25 on the off chance the book will be worth it? Heck, I wouldn't pay that much for an unknown, and the pricing for known-authors is more like $10 at bookstores and on line. Moral of the story: new-age-on-demand-changed-paradigm publishing is the new face on the old vanity publishing houses. We, the little newbie, cannot catch a break! Big Publishing would take a chance on anything, so we're out-a-luck there. We can push our own stuff ahead if we pay pay pay some online hacks way too much. Or we can e-publish, Kindle, Nook, etc, but that still remains a very small portion of the market. So, if you wish to write and have fun and have a few people enjoy your work, welcome to the New Era in Publishing - everything has changed. If you wish, however, to access the wide-world of hard-copy readers and make a modest return on your efforts, don't call us, we'll call you, because it ain't gunna happen - nothing has changed.
Does it bother me? Why, yes, and thanks for asking. Does it surprise me (cynical, wold-weary me)? I have to admit, a little, which is sad, because I should have seen it coming. What's truly unbelievable is that Lulu and Create Space (CS, see next paragraph) are cheap compared to the crooks who are out there. An unwary author can easily spend thousands of dollars using online vanity companies. There are a lot of bad people out there anxious to take a huge chunk of your hard-earned dollar.
So I re-formatted for CS. The site is much harder to use, but I got through it, I think. When I get to the 'pricing', I don't get violated as badly, as flagrantly, but only by this much. If I price at around $14, and purchase for $39 their 'pro' plan, I can earn almost $2 on a sale on Amazon.com. Wow, two bucks. I can sell though my website and get a reasonable half, but if I want the access Amazon brings, I must basically give it to the Corporate giant or price myself out of contention. Great to know Amazon is willing to give me a chance if I only give them a lot of profit for zero effort on their part. If your curious, here's a link to a PDF listing various on-demand companies and their services/prices: http://www.booksandtales.com/pod/ and http://dehanna.com/database.htm And so it goes.
Oh well, I am having fun doing all this, the writing and figuring out of things. I can maybe be like Scott Sigler and try and lasso my readers to my site and make a decent return-on-investment in the long run.
So, happy Halloween to each and every one of you, my friends, and please eat WAY too much candy. Afterwards, don't even brush your teeth - be a big-old kid again and love every moment......
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