Print Book Pricing for a self published author...

The Heart Of Texas is a typical print book... It is 80,000 + words and has a beautiful cover made by the awesome Meredith Russell.


It is on my bookshelf along side the 30 odd other print books I have out, including ones from Totally Bound and eXtasy. I have issues, a LOT of issues with how e-books are priced and I could ramble for days about $5 for a 30,000 word book... or the fact that if you don't sell a book for $2.99 you get screwed with percentages by Amazon. But I think I will save that for another day.

Back to Texas 1, and the gorgeous sexy print book. It has prices set by Love Lane Books as follows

US - $13.99
UK - £10.00
Euro - 11.99

It would be very cool to earn this every time I sell a paperback, but unfortunately I dont... ROFL

Taking the US price as an example. 

Books from Love Lane Books are POD, or Print on Demand. This means if you buy it, a request goes to this company CreateSpace and they print one specially for that order. I only sell maybe 30 paperbacks a month and I am not a book shop with stock so POD is the only way to go.

To print the book on demand  costs $10.22, then Create Space take their cut.

Therefore on a $13.99 book I will make $2.26 per Heart Of Texas sold. I think I have now made enough from this print book to cover the cost of cover art and the formatting time. I wish I could say the same for some of my other print books... BUT... they sure look shiny on my shelf!

If you're interested, my biggest selling paperbacks are the Texas series, Sanctuary series, New York Christmas and The Christmas Throwaway...

Would you buy more print books if they were cheaper to own, or are you 100% kindle based?



19 comments

  1. Wow, thanks for sharing this. I knew authors weren't earning much on the sales, but this is still eye opening. I am mostly kindle based, but after winning some beautiful paperbacks that were sent all the way to Germany for me, I have tasted blood. It is a big difference to have a beautiful book in your hands, even though I love kindle.

    BUT, I still must say that 10 Euros is usually my cut off mark for PBs and audiobooks. I just read too much to pay more than that (except in a few special cases) on an uncertain Student Budget. Still, PBs are a treat that I allow myself to have. But when I look through PBs it's much easier for me to justify paying 8.14 Euros for River Jaymes' "The Backup Boyfriend" than a book for 12 Euros - not because I think authors don't deserve the few bucks made from the sale, but because I have to somehow balance a limited budget and a M/M book addiction ;)

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    1. Exactly... it is a balance and one I can't justify myself... ;) X

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    2. I love your idea with the Ellory Mountain series. Knowing there will be several stories contained, it will a much more easy decision to buy them. (And honestly, I would even pay a bit more ;) Will you make volumes of other series, or complete series collections? The volumes look beautiful and I can't wait to own them <3

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    3. I may well do that, with Sanctuary possibly, and maybe my christmas stories... :)

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  2. I LOVE paper books, and yes, they look great on my authorly Trophy Shelf, but the necessary selling price is a problem, especially with the printer/publisher wanting their cut. It's a dilemma I'm currently struggling with. I have a 'traditional' romance I'm thinking of putting into paperback format as well as ebook - mainly so I can pimp it to libraries - but whether I go with Createspace or Lulu, I can't decide.

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    1. Yeah, i feel your pain with the pricing CQ... :( X

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  3. I love books. Ones I can really flip pages not virtual pages. I love the covers or dust covers. My Hobbit comes in forest green leather on the book and dust box, the lettering is in 22kt gold. the pages are gilt-edged in gold. Then I have a Texas series that's first edition sits right next to it. Love the Reese covers on those book too. They're even signed by the author. Yep will buy books don't really care about the cost just have to love the book.

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  4. I'm an avid reader and - well, so far I have accomplished that I no longer have to store books on my staicases. Yes, shame on me but seriously there is only that much space in a house and on all shelves. And it had hurt to give some away but that was the deal for my kindle, which I now own since Sept 2010 and which hosts over 1000 ebooks. I have no idea where I would have stored them. So to be honest - prints are nice to look at but I no longer buy them.

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  5. I would love to buy paperback copies of all the books Iove, the Texas series included, but I just can't afford it. :( It's a hard situation all the way around. For Authors and readers.

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  6. I have my books in boxes in a storage unit & all over my room ... but ... I traveled so much & carrying 3 to 4 books got so heavy. When I took my first ever vacation, I bought my Kindle Fire & downloaded every one of your books & all from the m/m genre ... can't buy paperbacks in this genre anywhere! Getting close to maxing out my Kindle ... only have books & Adam Lambert music on it! Lot of books I can't buy in paper! Can't even get them at the library! So ... Unfortunately space constriction, weight, lack of availability will keep me buying ebooks. Cost is not my concern when buying ... my only vice = books! I buy WHERE I can get them not by price. Love from Alaska Ann Alaskan

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  7. 99% ePub eBook based (I read on my iPad/iPhone). The only reason I have any paperbacks is if I get them signed from an author (I especially like the ones I get signed that I have an editing credit or a dedication in!). I treasure those and they have a place of honor on my shelf, but yeah, they are more trophies than something I read. I think I have read every one of the paperbacks I own in the ebook version instead.

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  8. I prefer reading on the Kindle! :)

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  9. I love books, be they eBook or print. However, with very little of the MM genre books in Australia I have to order from overseas. The cost for postage from the US is horrendous even for just one printbook . While I can justify paying about $17 AUD for the book, I can't the $20 US or more for postage. So I have to find other places to order any books from, which means I have to wait until they get the books in.

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  10. Print is my preference unless I am trying out new authors or the book(s) I want are not available in print. Price for me is not an object as apparently I am addicted to reading.

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  11. Personally I love paper books. I own a ridiculous amount of them, and I've been known to hug them from time to time. However, most of them I pick up at used book stores and library sales. Most things I buy new are ebooks, for the sake of my budget.

    Whenever I get a gift card though, it goes straight to paperbacks! It's pretty sad to see how little goes to the author though....

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  12. I'm totally an e-book person. I kept a few books I bought hard copy, but donated most to the library. I just don't have the room!

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  13. I love books but after filling up 6 large bookcases over the years I bought myself a kindle and read e-books exclusively now. I do miss having a book in hand and turning pages but most of all the beautiful covers.

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  14. It took me a long time to make up my mind about an e-reader as I thought I would miss the 'real' book too much. Eventually I took the plunge 3 years ago and haven't bought a hard copy since then. I'm now on my fourth reader (currently a Kobo Arc 7HD) with more than 1700 books and a serious M/M addiction. Needing to turn my 'library' at home to a playroom I'm gradually replacing all my paperbacks in anticipation of retiring in a few years. So no, I'm definitely in the electronic camp, I'm afraid.

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  15. I'm 100% ebook now. It's about space and ease of reading since I have problems with my eyes. It's wonderful to be able to change font size! I've been buying ebooks since the end of 2011 and have over 3,000. Also, although I don't travel much now, I remember the days when half my suitcase was filled with books and I remember exactly how heavy the thing was.

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