The Price of Publishing

Nothing in life is easy. That’s for sure, but doesn’t that make it more desirable? Knowing you have to work to get somewhere? I started writing years ago with a dream: to get published. Sure, at the time there was no internet and I wanted my name in lights at the big stores. Fast forward a decade or two (hush!) and times have changed. What hasn’t changed is the cost of doing business.

I was in Barnes and Noble the other day checking to see if they had any of my books on the shelves. Low and behold there were six. After running an employee down I managed to sign them. While there I noticed two women in an animated discussion about different fantasy series and what to read next. You can see where this is going….

Good news for me, I convinced them to buy a book each and even personalized the autograph. Now here is the fun part- remember growing up thinking you didn’t need math? Wrong.

The books sold for 18.99 each, plus tax. Awesome. Too bad the wholesaler purchases the book for a 55% discount. Out of the remaining 45% there are printing fees, distribution fees and so on, leaving me with a whopping 2.50 per book sold. 2.50 out of 19.00.

Now I’m not complaining, if I had been traditionally published there would be an agent fee in there and so much more, knocking my proceed down to about a buck a book.

So the next time you are swimming around Amazon looking for free books, please remember we don’t get paid that much as it is and every sale is precious. Until next time always remember to read on, my friends. Read on.