This is how the bastards make money

[ElectricBlue]

I have a few books on sale, both epubs and print on demand. The epubs make me a buck or two, regardless of the distributor. If someone buys a print book from Lulu for say $20, the printing costs about $6, Lulu take $3, and I make $11.

But if someone buys the same book through one of the big distributors like Barnes and Noble, the printing costs the same, Lulu takes their same cut, but B&N take $9 and I get $2. Bastards.

This came home to me today, when for the first time in yonks I checked my sales, to discover some kind soul in the UK bought three of my Floating World books, spending good money through the UK distributor.

I made enough to buy two coffees, one of which I had today with a slice of ginger cake with a dollop of fresh cream. The other I shall buy tomorrow, maybe with a slice of carrot cake, and look towards England, to thank that fine person.

Barnes and Noble, though. What the fuck did they do to lift their forty fucking five percent out of the price? This is why writers are all on the dole, or have another job. Bastards.

 

[MrPixel]

10% of the retail price in the old-school publishing world is generous. My wife was a member of the creative and management team for a regional, niche publishing house with a retail outlet, and the authors' cut there was 5%. In their case and probably in the case of B&N, maintaining brick-and-mortar retail locs is very costly, so my edu-guess is B&N uses the same ratios for online distribution.

 

[GinnyPPC]

10% of the retail price in the old-school publishing world is generous. My wife was a member of the creative and management team for a regional, niche publishing house with a retail outlet, and the authors' cut there was 5%. In their case and probably in the case of B&N, maintaining brick-and-mortar retail locs is very costly, so my edu-guess is B&N uses the same ratios for online distribution.

Here is 10 Lit Dollars to place a bet next to MrPixel's edu-guess.

 

[MajorRewrite]

The rule of thumb in the retail industry is the store gets 50% of the retail price. Bookstores are actually an odd exception where they generally only get 40% of the retail price (because they can sometimes return unsold books, which other kinds of retailers cannot do). Operating stores and making that final connection to the customer is an expensive proposition.

 

[KeithD]

I have a few books on sale, both epubs and print on demand. The epubs make me a buck or two, regardless of the distributor. If someone buys a print book from Lulu for say $20, the printing costs about $6, Lulu take $3, and I make $11.

But if someone buys the same book through one of the big distributors like Barnes and Noble, the printing costs the same, Lulu takes their same cut, but B&N take $9 and I get $2. Bastards.

T

Don't you have to pay Lulu money up front to get your book produced and listed with them? Do you pay either B&N or Amazon anything up front to be put on their distribution? Are you factoring all of your costs in?

 

[ElectricBlue]

The rule of thumb in the retail industry is the store gets 50% of the retail price. Bookstores are actually an odd exception where they generally only get 40% of the retail price (because they can sometimes return unsold books, which other kinds of retailers cannot do). Operating stores and making that final connection to the customer is an expensive proposition.

That's when they carry the books on shelves, which is a different distribution model entirely. This is print on demand - when someone orders a book, the printer (a third party) does all the work.

With print on demand, the original feed distribution is done by Lulu, the print files are on Lulu servers and the "distributor" does nothing except provide a place on a website. Their transaction cost is the cost of digital space only. Their "take" is disproportional to the value add they provide, which is minimal. I know it's a bitch from me, but it's a price rip-off in terms of what they actually bring to the party, which is not much. They also lie when they say there is stock (including second hand stock) available on the shelf. That's laughable.

 

[lovecraft68]

Sucks, but makes sense. If you sell a book direct on the platform you published it, you get a much bigger slice, but when its on an affiliate the publisher distributes to now its the publisher cut, and the affiliate cut.
Not sure how long the book in question is, but $20 is a lot. I have 450 page paperbacks through create space that sell for 12.99. Not that anyone buys online, but the print cost is low enough I can sell them at events for $10 and make a decent profit.