MichaelSullivan
Maester
Show me the money...traditional verses self publishing
This post is in response to another thread - that I didn't want to derail. It relates to money and publishing. For those that don't know, I had a very successful self-published career and then signed on with traditional, the decision to do so was not based on financial considerations.
Let's lay some ground works first. I want to compare apples to apples so in this case let's assume we have a book (and author) who has the option of doing either which means:
The money for each breaks down as follows:
Now given the above let's look at the authors who sell at various levels (notice I said authors not books - so it is quite possible that it may take more than one title to reach these sales levels)
Notice there are gaps between the various levels but these tend to be the big classifications that are worth looking at.
Blockbuster: For the most part we can ignore this as it is the world of the "outlier" by definition most people will never find themselves here - but for the few that have - your best option would be traditional. That is the venue that has the distribution to make the most money at this level, and to date there are only two self-published authors who have reached this level, and while many in writing/publishing may know their names, few people on the street can tell you who Amanda Hocking or John Locke are.
Successful: At the high end but very attainable. I myself have sold about 195,000 copies and I can quickly name 50 other authors who would reach this category both through traditional and self-published. Let's look at this one more closely. If the publisher has this type of expectation they would probably offer a six-figure advance of around $100,000 - $150,000 (an it would probably be for a 3-book deal).
Solid: In the “solid category” there are probably only going to be trade paperback as an option. Royalties at this level will be $5,000 to $10,000 per book. And we can use similar calculations to what we had for the “successful category:
Selling 7,500 (which is the average for most debut books would yield $10,290 and 10,000 which would be really successful at this level is $13,720.
Once again in indie will assume all of the books are ebook and the numbers work out as follows:
Personally at these prices I think it is likely that you would sell 2x — 5x of what would be sold traditionally because even though they are all ebooks they cost just a fraction of the $14.99 and $9.99 price tag.
So let's summarize:
At all the various sales levels you will do better with self-publishing. Any loss in print sales are easy to make up for by increases in ebook sales because the books are offered at deep discounting. As I mentioned for "similar" books (of quality, author time on market, etc) I find that self-published authors are selling much greater quantities, but even if they are just "matching" the traditional they still come out ahead.
This post is in response to another thread - that I didn't want to derail. It relates to money and publishing. For those that don't know, I had a very successful self-published career and then signed on with traditional, the decision to do so was not based on financial considerations.
Let's lay some ground works first. I want to compare apples to apples so in this case let's assume we have a book (and author) who has the option of doing either which means:
- The book is of high quality, written in a genre that has demand, and would eventually make it through the query-go-round such that it would eventually be picked up by a publisher
- If self-published, it would be done so professionally which means it would have: good editing, attractive cover, good back of the book marketing copy, competitive pricing.
The money for each breaks down as follows:
- Traditional: Paperback royalties (based on list) would be 7.5% for trade, 8% for mass market, and 10% for hard cover ,and 25% (based on net) for ebook and audio downloads.
- Indie: No advance (probably - $1,000 per book on out of pocket fees), trade paperback - minimal sales but earning $3.50 per. ebook will be bulk of sales and will be 70% of list (we won't price lower than $2.99).
Now given the above let's look at the authors who sell at various levels (notice I said authors not books - so it is quite possible that it may take more than one title to reach these sales levels)
- Blockbuster - which will sell more than 1,000,000 copies
- Successful - selling at least 100,000 copies
- Solid: Selling 5,000 - 10,000 copies
- Poor performer: 2,000 or less copies
Notice there are gaps between the various levels but these tend to be the big classifications that are worth looking at.
Blockbuster: For the most part we can ignore this as it is the world of the "outlier" by definition most people will never find themselves here - but for the few that have - your best option would be traditional. That is the venue that has the distribution to make the most money at this level, and to date there are only two self-published authors who have reached this level, and while many in writing/publishing may know their names, few people on the street can tell you who Amanda Hocking or John Locke are.
Successful: At the high end but very attainable. I myself have sold about 195,000 copies and I can quickly name 50 other authors who would reach this category both through traditional and self-published. Let's look at this one more closely. If the publisher has this type of expectation they would probably offer a six-figure advance of around $100,000 - $150,000 (an it would probably be for a 3-book deal).
- If initially released in hardcover let's assume 5,000 sold and then 100,000 in mass market market paperback. ebook at 30% of print. Prices are $25.00 for hardcover, $7.99 for mass market, ebook initially $12.95 for first year then $7.99 going forward. So..
Format Quantity Author's Share income hardcover 5,000 $2.50 $12,500 mass market print 100,000 $0.64 $64,000 expensive ebook 9,000 $2.27 $20,430 cheap ebook 22,500 $1.40 $31,500 Total 136,500 $0.64 - $2.50 $128,430
- If released in trade paperback there usually won’t be a mass market run. The ratio between ebook and print would be about 60% paper and 40% ebook and all the sales would be required to get to 100,000. Trade paperback would be priced around $14.99 and ebook at $9.99.
Format Quantity Author's Share income trade print 60,000 $1.12 $67,200 ebook 40,000 $1.75 $70,000 Total 100,000 $1.12 - $1.75 $137,200
- If released in mass market paperback then you would need 100,000 copies sold to be a success at this level and because ebooks are priced the same you would probably get an additional 50% in ebooks the ratio would be about 60% paper and 40% ebook and all the sales would be required to get to 100,000. Both the ebook and the mass market would be priced at $7.99
Format Quantity Author's Share income trade print 100,000 $0.64 $64,000 ebook 50,000 $1.40 $70,000 Total 150,000 $0.64 - $1.40 $134,000
- If released as an indie two likely price points would be utilized $2.99 or $4.99. There would be very few paperback sales so I'm going to take them off the table completely so these numbers will be slightly unreported. Because the ebooks are priced much less than traditional they are likely to sell more than 100,000 copies but we'll keep stay within the confines we setup
Format Quantity Author's Share income ebook - $4.99 100,000 $3.49 $349,000 ebook - $2.99 100,000 $2.09 $299,000
So you can see for this category you'll always do better if you are self-published. You are getting a much higher per book income, and because you are offering the book cheaper than when traditional you’ll be able to live make good sales on ebook only and that will more than make up for the lost in print sales.
Solid: In the “solid category” there are probably only going to be trade paperback as an option. Royalties at this level will be $5,000 to $10,000 per book. And we can use similar calculations to what we had for the “successful category:
Format | Quantity | Author's Share | income |
trade print | 3,000 | $1.12 | $3,360 |
ebook | 2,000 | $1.75 | $3,500 |
Total | 5,000 | $1.12 - $1.75 | $6,860 |
Selling 7,500 (which is the average for most debut books would yield $10,290 and 10,000 which would be really successful at this level is $13,720.
Once again in indie will assume all of the books are ebook and the numbers work out as follows:
Format | Quantity | Author's Share | income |
ebook - $4.99 | 5,000 | $3.49 | $17,450 |
ebook - $2.99 | 5,000 | $2.09 | $10,450 |
Personally at these prices I think it is likely that you would sell 2x — 5x of what would be sold traditionally because even though they are all ebooks they cost just a fraction of the $14.99 and $9.99 price tag.
So let's summarize:
Type | Traditional | Self - $4.99 | Self - $2.99 |
Successful | $128,430 - $137,250 | $349,000 | $299,000 |
Solid | $6,850 | $10,450 | $17,450 |
At all the various sales levels you will do better with self-publishing. Any loss in print sales are easy to make up for by increases in ebook sales because the books are offered at deep discounting. As I mentioned for "similar" books (of quality, author time on market, etc) I find that self-published authors are selling much greater quantities, but even if they are just "matching" the traditional they still come out ahead.
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