Monday, I received the paperback proof of DUKE NOBLE, P.I.: RUMOR HAS IT and it's a beaut. So, I approved it and yesterday morning I got the email letting me know it's now available for sale on Amazon. I set it up at the price of $9.99. It's the best price I can set and still make a little scratch for myself. A little somethin' for the effort, eh?
I have 5 author copies due to arrive here April 14-17th. One will be a gift to a friend. One I've already got a buyer for.
You know, I didn't realize it until now that I missed having paperbacks. There's nothing quite like holding a physical copy of your books in your own hands. Prior to this, the last book I published with a paperback version was Sleeping Ugly - which went live in August of 2018. :sadface:
To rectify that, I will be creating paperbacks for the remaining books that don't have them - Ugly and the Beast, Cinder Ugly, Blink of an I, and Unequal. Not sure of the time frames on those. I have to format them for print and then I have to contact my cover artist for UatB and CU, to see what her schedule looks like. And whether she'll want more money since it's been a couple years. She shouldn't but I wouldn't blame her. Then I have to create covers for Blink and Unequal. Busy busy.
If you've been waiting on these, I apologize. Paperbacks cost money up front and I just haven't been able to part with it. I'm going to try to do better this year.
As to the paperbacks being only available on Amazon, well, you see, in order for me to make a paperback widely available, I have to jack the price. If I made RHI a $10.99 book, I wouldn't make any money when it sold at any other vendor. $0 to me, so what's the point of that. I could raise it $11.99 and make a little money out there in the world, but I don't want to pay $12 for a paperback so you shouldn't have to either So I took it out of wide distribution and set the price lower. At $9.99, I'm making a little over a dollar per book at Amazon. If you hate Amazon and still would like a copy of any of my books, contact me directly and we'll see what we can do.
Of course, it's cheaper for you and more profitable to me if you buy ebooks, but I understand that sometimes you just have to hold a real book in your hands. I do the best I can to make these books as cost effective for you as I can. And still make money for me.
Thoughts? Opinions?
Additional Note: While I was checking to make sure all my paperback books had the proper pricing, etc. I noticed a couple things that hadn't been moved over properly from Createspace all those years ago. Total faceplant on my part, I assure you. I assumed everything was fine, so I didn't bother to check. Unfortunately, that meant I didn't have all the metadata and keywords I could've had. AND it didn't have me listed as having 'worldwide rights', which I most definitely do. AND when I scrolled through the pricing for other countries, I discovered I was making ZERO profit for any books I sold in Japan. Derp. I haven't actually sold any paperbacks in Japan, but it could happen and I would've gotten ZILCH for them. If you were like me and assumed everything would be fine from the great Createspace migration, go check everything now. Seriously.
I think I checked back when everything migrated. I need to get quite a few of my books formatted for print too. Eventually.
ReplyDeleteSadly, print on demand is expensive and it is hard for a self-pubbed author to make any profit. Still, as you say, it is a convenience for some people. I think I've sold like 3 paperbacks in the last year? I'd have to go back and check. It's a rare occurrence. I obvously sell more in PB in the HQN books but I only make about 50 cents a copy.
And ya know, I don't think I've EVER sold a book in Japan. Ah well. LOL
Most of my dressmaking books sell in paperback, but nonfiction is a whole different kettle of fish. My fiction doesn't sell hardly at all.
ReplyDeleteNow that you mention it, I only get a few cents on my Japanese sales. I need to look into that.