QUESTION: How do I price my book?
ANSWER: Pricing is subjective, and for lack of a better term, a crap shoot. Whatever you price your book at, if you are selling it off your website, break down the book cost and then shipping costs. Call it shipping and handling. Factor in that there are supplies and labor (envelopes, tape, cardboard backing, going to the post office) and there is tax and post office hikes. If you’re using PayPal, consider adding those fees into the shipping and handling. If your actual cost is $3.65 plus tax, maybe charge $10. Price out the actual shipping at your post office so you can get an idea. You might have a single rate or a rate for in-country, neighboring country, or international.
If there is a special bulk order, have them contact you directly. You may have a grid of discounts if they buy a certain amount of books, then estimate the shipping and handling.
QUESTION: My has written his “memoirs,” which are neither terribly long nor interesting, and would probably never be purchased outside of family or friends. Be that as it may, I know he would like nothing more than to see it in print, along with the pictures he could provide of his life in farming, etc. What kind of process would you recommend for setup and limited printing of such a book, and what kind of costs do you expect would be associated with it? This would obviously not be a money-making venture; I simply want something in print that he could be proud of and show others, along with a limited number of copies he could do as he wishes with, whether it’s giving them to people or having on-hand to sell to people who will humor him.
ANSWER: What? Not interesting? Don’t tell him that. Books are very personal. I know an author who had promised her father she’d put his manuscript into book form. It’s also more than just a biography and reflects a historic time in Canadian history, to which she can use for speaking to schools and such. She had the book edited and professionally designed. But if a person doesn’t have the means to pay for professional design and layout (a book needs to be in a very high resolution PDF form that was originally created in a layout program such as InDesign in order for it to print professionally) there are few options. Print on Demand is one way, but do a lot of research before going with a firm. They can end up charging you more than it would cost to layout and print the book yourself anyway. I did a book through Booklocker and it was a fantastic experience. There are e-book templates online (most for a small price) to flow in a book, but I’m not that versed in them yet, so I can’t tell you who is good and if they provide a useable PDF that you might be able to forward to a printer. Another option is to PDF your Word document, send it to a Kinko’s, UPS type of business, or other printer, where they can print it off and coil bind it.
