Vanity Publishing vs Print-on-Demand

Lesson #6: Avoid vanity publishers like the plague.

I could almost leave this blog there.  But I appreciate that there are those of you that don't know the difference between vanity publishing and print-on-demand.  Or even that print-on-demand exists (I didn't when I first started writing).  So, here's a nice explanatory table for you:

Vanity publishing vs print-on-demand summary table

Expecting a bit more detail?  Oh, OK then:

Vanity publishing vs print-on-demand

You may be wondering how I can get away with writing this, without getting sued.  Well, not one single company would ever describe themselves as a vanity publisher.  And I'm not going to name any names.  However, I will give you examples of some lovely print-on-demand publishers for you to look at and compare prices:

Print-on-Demand Publishers

Createspace.com 

Createspace is an Amazon company and, therefore, your book becomes automatically available on amazon.com and Amazon Europe (including amazon.co.uk) for free.  You can also use its Extended Distribution Channels to distribute through other retailers, both on-line and high street bookshops, as well as to libraries.  Albeit at significantly lower royalty rates.  Here's an example using Createspace's own royalty calculator for a 32-page, 8.5'' x 8.5'' picture book, assuming you want the colour to go all the way to the edge (that's what 'with bleed' means):

Createspace's print-on-demand royalty calculator for a 32-page, full colour picture book

You can choose whatever price you want for your book and it will calculate the royalties you would receive for each distribution channel.  Remember, you want to be competitive and that these royalties are much more favourable than for a traditionally published picture book author, who would expect roughly 5% of the net profit (so, after the printing costs etc are taken off).  With this pricing structure, as a self-published author, you're looking at about 25% of the list price.  Not bad, eh.

Also, ebooks can be set up for free and are published on Amazon Kindle, where you earn 70% of the list price.

Lulu.com

Lulu makes your print book available for free to the Lulu bookstore, but charges a distribution fee to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Ingram.  Here's their calculator for pricing the cost of MANUFACTURE of one copy of your full colour picture book:

Lulu book cost calculator.

But, on top of this you need to add all the other costs but, unfortunately, Lulu's royalty calculations aren't very transparent.  They do give general guidance, though.  Have a look at this example they give of royalties earned for a 75 page, A5 sized colour picture book:

Lulu's revenue calculator

So they seem to adjust the base price for wider distribution, but it still leaves you having to choose a pretty hefty price for your product, hardly conducive towards breaking into an already competitive market.  Of course, you could choose to only sell on Lulu, thus allow you to choose a much more competitive list price.  However, I would be wary of going down this route as it would significantly reduce your customer pool.

Lightningsource.com / Ingramspark.com

Lightning Source and Ingram Spark are sister companies, with very little to choose from between them.  From their point of view, Ingram Spark is aimed at self-publishing authors and Lightning Source is for publishing houses looking to outsource printing (print-on-demand is an attractive concept to them too).  However, Lightning Source works with self-publishing authors too, and provide the added bonus of an allocated client representative to answer any queries you have as well as allowing you to set your own wholesale discount between 20-50%.  With Ingram Spark, the wholesale discount is set at 55%.

Everything else is the same - their printing costs, fees - everything.  So, from here on in, the information is exactly the same for both of them.

As they are based in the US, UK and Australia, they can distribute your book to the main on-line bookshops in each of these countries, at no extra cost.  Here's how the royalties work out:

Lightning Source's print-on-demand royalties (publisher compensation) for a 32-page picture book.

So, for argument's sake, I've chosen a 50% wholesale discount, here.  When setting your own wholesale discount price, please try to remember the wholesaler is a customer too, and you want to provide them with as many good reasons as possible to persuade them to take a risk on an untried and untested author and product.  Offering a favourable wholesaler discount price will help to make that risk as small as possible, so that they're more willing to make that important leap of faith.  I would, therefore, strongly recommend a wholesale discount price of AT LEAST 35%, if not more.

I've also chosen 'standard colour' (printed on 50lb white paper) as opposed to 'premium colour' (printed on 70lb white paper).  In terms of comparability with Createspace, they print on 'library quality' 60lb white paper.  If you would prefer to go with the premium colour option then it bumps up the printing costs to £2.62 and therefore reduces your royalties by £1.15.  You've then got to decide whether or not to take the hit yourself, reduce your wholesale discount or increase your list price.  Decisions, decisions.

You will also need to allow for the initial set-up costs:  £42 + VAT one off payment to set up the title with them (as a print book AND an ebook, as long as they're both submitted together), which is automatically refunded if you order 50+ books with them within 60 days of the title set up.  Then there is the annual Global Market Access fee of £7 + VAT.  These fees may be worth paying when you compare these royalties to those of Createspace's expanded distribution ($0.34).

Lightning Source / Ingram Spark can also distribute your ebook for you to all the major retailers.  However, they only pay you 40% of the list price, which is quite a significant cut, compared with setting them up yourself.  I'd opt out of this, myself.

blurb.co.uk

Blurb is on the more expensive end of the spectrum, but they do provide a great quality product finish - even their standard paper grade weighs in at a hefty 80lb.  They don't do the full range of industry standard sizes, so I've gone for the best-priced option, instead:

Blurb print-on-demand printing costs

So, you're looking at £5.95 for a 32-page 6x9 colour picture book before you've even started.  It's still cheaper than Lulu, but it's going to leave you with a product that you just can't sell through standard channels due to a prohibitive list price.

However, I do really like the look of their ebook building software.  At the paltry price of £5.99 for the iPad format ebook and, similarly, £2.99 for the PDF format, you can produce enhanced ebooks with audio and video too.  A bargain, if ever I saw one.  

Summary of Print-on-Demand Publishers

So, there's quite a wide range of prices out there, but to be competitive in the market, Createspace, Lightning Source and Ingram Spark are your best bets, both in terms of price and in terms of the breadth of distribution they provide.  And, to me, Blurb is worth using to create an enhanced ebook that sets your work head and shoulders above the competition.

You may be wondering why I've put this in-depth analysis of the print-on-demand publishers at this point.  Surely, which printing company you are going to use doesn't really need to be decided yet, does it?  Well, no.  But you do need to have an idea of costs and royalties at this stage to know how much you can afford to spend on illustrators.  Because, if you're going to spend £1000 on an illustrator and you're going to sell your book at £5.99 then you need to sell 667 books before you even begin to make a profit.  Which, I'll tell you now, is optimistic.

But, now that you know to avoid vanity publishing like the plague and you're well versed in print-on-demand publishers, you're in the best position you can be to know your budget for choosing an illustrator.