All of the self publishing companies I review on the site charge
a fee to publish a book (like Dog Ear), most bring your book into
distribution (like Dog Ear), all offer you the ability to purchase
books at an author discount and pay a royalty based upon your
RETAIL - giving them an uncomfortable incentive to drive your
retail price too high. A book has a fixed cost to print, regardless
of what the retail price happens to be... Why should your cost
to purchase your own book be based upon the retail price?
I include a link to what I believe is important in choosing a
company to self-publish your book, click here
to see my list.
On to our discussion of self publishing company Wheatmark.
I use the exact model project for each self publishing company
competitive review - information and self publishing costs are
derived from the Wheatmark web site and contract.
- 6X9 trim size, 150 pages, one color interior, 4 color cover,
5 interior images
- Paperback or hardcover
- ISBN and bar code included, Library of Congress Control number
- Custom cover and interior - not just choices
from existing templates
- PDF or laser proofs delivered to author,
- 100 additional paperback units purchased
- Available at Amazon and most major online retailers
- Available through major distributors like Ingram and Baker and
Taylor
- Available for order at over 25,000 retail bookstores.
(click here
to see the Dog Ear breakdown - our total cost for this package
and options is $1,327, our per unit book printing
price is $4.28, and you get 10 free author copies
of your book.)
Wheatmark
Wheatmark - a variety of packages are available
on the Wheatmark Book Publishers web site.
Nothing unusual about the services offered here - typical of
the self-publishing industry. Wheatmark publishing
packages range from $799 to $3999.
For $799 you will be required to perform all the design and composition
services for both the interior and cover of your book. This is
for press-ready only product - you get a better deal from Trafford
or Lulu for this service.
Options of course increase as you spend more money ($1299, $1999,
$2999 and $3999). In my opinion, there isn't an exact match in
packages that offe the same services as Dog Ear Publishing. I
started with the $1299 package - but you won't get the full design
customization of Dog Ear. The only way to get custom design and
design proofs / consultation was to go to the $1999 package...
but the customization isn't worth $700, so we'll just use the
lower package.
Wheatmark allows you to set your own profit
and has a very nice profit and pricing calculator. Wheatmark
allows you to choose the price you will charge for your book,
as long as it is above their minimum retail. The $1299 publishing
package allows for a moderately custom interior design - but you
must start with a very simple style of book. It appears that more
complex books only qualify for the $3999 package, or incur a $499
design increase. Wheatmark offers all of the
standard trim sizes available. Printing costs / author copy costs
are 40% off retail for units up to 100 - 50% at the 100 unit level.
Note the 'minimum' retail for this model book is $13.95
Standard Paperback Publishing - $1299
Custom Cover and Interior - $??? - sort of - but not cover
Library of Congress Control Number - $0
Proofs - NA (not applicable - digital proofs are free)
Printing Services - $6.98 / unit X 100 units = $698 (printing
this book at Dog Ear is only $4.28 per unit)
Total Expenditure- Wheatmark: $1,997
($670 MORE EXPENSIVE
THAN DOG EAR)
BOOK DESIGN and PRODUCTION- Comparison
Dog Ear creates a unique design for both the cover and interior
for every book. The design is custom (literally from the ground
up) for each and every book - no 'templates' are ever used. Dog
Ear provides a Design Sample using your
manuscript and allows you complete freedom to revise what our
team has built. No other publishing services company provides
this service FREE OF CHARGE - only Dog
Ear. Every one of our books are designed and built by
professionals with long histories and lots of experience - from
the traditional publishing industry. Your book is being
built the same staff that creates books for Harper Collins, Prentice
Hall, Simon & Schuster, Wiley, Penguin and many other of the
worlds most successful publishers.
BOOK PRINTING PRICES (author copies) - Comparison
Wheatmark charges a significant amount more than Dog Ear to print
author copies - as noted above:
#
of Units |
Wheatmark |
Dog
Ear |
per
unit savings |
1-99 |
8.37 |
4.28 |
4.09 |
100-499 |
6.98 |
4.28 |
2.70 |
500-999 |
6.28 |
4.28 |
2.00 |
1000+ |
3.48 |
3.00 or less |
1.48 or more |
Wheatmark enforces a minimum retail price on each book - this
book requires AT LEAST a $13.95 retail price. $13.95 is a fairly
solid retail price for a 150 page paperback from an indie / self
published author. At Dog Ear Publishing you could achieve a retail
of only $8.98 and still be very profitable... (which, by the way
is too low in my opinion, but you could easily do it if you wanted;
and at Dog Ear you have that option.)
AUTHOR PROFIT - Comparison
Author profit from royalty payments is not strong
in the Wheatmark programs when compared - at
Dog Ear Publishing, when you purchase
your own books, they are over $4 LESS EXPENSIVE per unit,
with that money going straight to your pocket.
Your author profit when selling through distribution
(Amazon, Ingram, Barnes & Noble, etc) - even using their required
retail price - is a straight 20% OF NET, which means the money
left after the wholesale discount. Wheatmark sells into distribution
at apparently a 55% wholesale discount (which is way too high
- YOU need to be in control of your wholesale) - which means Wheatmark
is paid $6.27 for the book. You get 20% of that:
Wheatmark Author Profit: $1.26
Your per unit author profit from each
sale is over $3 MORE for each book with Dog Ear.
Dog Ear Author Profit: $4.76
Imagine what these numbers do to your profit over the life of
your book. It takes that price difference you pay up front and
continues to magnify it, all the while putting more money in the
publishers pocket.
|
