I have self published, and ordered just fifty copies of my book, an autobiography.They have all been sold but I havent made ay money at all.I would like to ask if marketing and distributing myself I did the correct thing and sold the books for the price agreed on the cover £ 8:99.The whole process has cost £1000 I may have had a return of £400, I didnt write for the money return, but because I enjoyed writing, but is this usual when self publishing.I had great help from my publishers, the book was turned out very well I am pleased with everything.Is there a better way of selling,I posted most of my books and everyone paid for th P+P would it be better to leave the distribution to the publishers even if it costs considerably more?Would appreciate help with this.
regards Bernie
If profit (or the eventual financial loss) is an issue or even just an annoyance, then maybe you need to look at your costs.
Maybe you need a bigger print run - print more to reduce individual unit costs? Is £8.99 the right or a cost effective selling price? What is the cost of publishing/production per unit (per book) versus your selling price? Have you tried selling your book as an ebook/kindle version as well (no printing costs!)?
As a very general rule of thumb, if your unit price is more than 25% of your selling price then you are never very likely to make a profit after costs and commissions etc. In your case, if your full publishing costs are more than £2.25 per unit then you need to look into your costs.
If you are self-publishing, and have full control over the publishing process, shop around for more cost effective printers etc. Also, remember there are some costs which you will likely only need to pay for once (cover design, typsetting etc - if you have full control and the master document) which should reduced costs for additional print runs.
The first printer I found was going to charge a total amount in excess of £2.50 per unit. With an appropriate selling price versus commissions, all postage and packaging costs etc it was a non-starter. It pays to shop around. I certainly did.
Maybe you should consider FBA (Fulfilled By Amazon) which may contribute to reducing your costs as well so it may be worth looking into its viability. Although this may only be prudent if you expect quick and steady sales.
I hope I added some benefit to this thread. Good luck!
There is something called print on demand, though I am not sure how you access it, then as you get orders you can have the books printed as needed.
Thank you Jeremy and Lorraine for your answers.It is nice to know how other people have got on.I didnt write my book expecting a profit either, just the satisfaction has been wonderful.
I think I should have left the marketing and distribution to the publishers on hind sight. I have sold privately and there are a few copies in a shop in the town where I have written about, Facebook didnt do much for me.
I am thinking of ordering some more copies and maybe leave the hard work to the publishers.The problem is I reside in Sweden, this book is in English and I dont think the subject woud appeal to people here, although a lot of my former work friends have bought copies.I need more help in the UK I think, but I dont know how many copies I should order,not being too optimistic.Thank you both very much for your feedback,I appreciate everything.
Best regards
Bernadette