I wrote this post on March 1st. By March 31st it needed a serious update, see below.
In order to sell my books, I order print on demand copies from Lulu. If I'm lucky they'll sell them, via Global Distribution, on Amazon. But, as discussed elsewhere, they keep rejecting my graphic novels as being "low content" when they are, of course, nothing of the sort. (Me not selling direct through Amazon KDP has also been well covered here.)
The Cost
For the first 1000 copies of Richard The Third I ordered print runs from Stu Gould's Citrus Print. And I'd happily do that again, but I don't have the cashflow to hand (it costs me £1200 for 500 copies). So I'm getting them in batches of 18 (best postage price, £13.29), which works out at the best price per copy.
But, and it is a big but, that price varies dependant upon one big thing - the Lulu Voucher Code.
If I'm lucky, I can get 15% off, using these vouchers which Lulu send, but which only work once (sometimes twice). I once got 20% off. There are also 10% vouchers. But there are also times when I desperately need books and I can't get a discount. And I've just noticed today, Sunday March 2, and I've seen the basic price per book has just gone up (from £62.43 for 18 to £66.10 for 18). Here are how those prices work out:
18 copies inc p&p + 15% discount = £75.72 = £4.20 each
18 copies inc p&p + 10% discount = £79.39 = £4.41 each
18 copies inc p&p no discount = £86.73 = £4.81 each
So, selling that at £7 each to kids in schools, I'm making between £2.10 and £2.80 a copy. When I sell them at events for £7.99 I make £3.18 - £3.79 each. Could be worse. (Though when I can afford a Citrus Print run, they come out at £2 a copy, which would be better.)
The Wait
How long it'll take the books to arrive is the other variable. I've found myself caught short recently and really have to keep up to date with my stock counts. Here are the waiting times I've had for this year's print runs:
6 Jan - 30 Richards - 10 days wait
15 Jan - 30 Richards - 7 days
27 Jan - 15 Richards - 9 days
31 Jan- 18 Richards - 7 days
4 Feb - 18 Richards - 8 days
6 Feb - 18 Richards - 12 days
7 Feb - 10 col books - 15 days
9 Feb - 10 Rich + - 9 days
9 Feb - 18 mixed books - 11 days
11 Feb - 18 Richards - 9 days
14 Feb - 17 Rich + - 11 days
14 Feb - 18 Richards - 14 days
25 Feb - 18 Richards - 8 days
2 March - 18 Richards (delivered 13th March = 11 days)
2 March - 18 Richard (delivered 8th March = 6 days)
3 March - 18 Richard Priority Post (del 11 March = 8 days)
3 March - 20 D2D Richards (delivered 7th March = 4 days)
5 March - 18 Richard Priority Post ( del 11 March = 6 days)
5 March - 20 D2D Richards (del 8 March = 3 days)
So on average I wait 10.16 days. Best to assume you'll be waiting a fortnight, then it's a delightful bonus when they come in a week.
Also D2D
Monday March 3rd update: I just ordered 20 books from D2D. They only cost £2.76 each and the postage is only £11.01. They say there's sales tax to be added, but I don't know how much, and they say delivery can be 14 days. I also don't know how up to date the front cover and interior contents are. But if this batch comes through, then I'll be ordering and selling D2 copies over the coming months.
And that's the end of the most boring post so far this month.
Big Update: D2D books arrive in just 4 days! Ordered Mon 3 delivered Fri 7 and they cost £3.12 each. Game changer! Lulu copies are history baby.
March 31st update: D2D beats Lulu hands down for graphic novels.
Order by Lulu normal post, you wait 8 to 14 days, Lulu Priority post can make that as short as 6 days. Order by D2D, not only is the post cheaper and the books cheaper, but they can come in as little as 3 days, and so far they've not taken more than 4 days.
This means that if I sell out of product at a Sunday comicon, I can be restocked by Friday, and for around £3 a book rather than £4. This was not previously possible and has changed my self-publishing business for live events as I continue through the year.
Now if we could find a way of doing online sales, we'd really be getting somewhere.
Update: Mr Micawber and the balance of payments
What was it Micawber said? "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty-pound ought and six, result misery." That comes to mind when I'm looking at my figures so far this year...
JAN Books bought (All Lulu) = £430.17
Jan Books sold = £490
FEB Books bought (All Lulu) = £617.99
Feb Books sold = £1049
MAR Books bought through Lulu = £661.88
MAR Books bought through D2D = £645.29
MAR Total books bought = £1307.17
March Books sold = £3280
By which token you'd think the result should be happiness, big time. But somehow, come the turn of the month, I'm totting up my bank balances and finding I'm effectively no better off than I was at the start of the year. To be fair I haven't included stock in my accountancy, and a great many of the books bought in March are waiting to be sold in April. But surely that should make me even better off? And the real expenditure, I fear, is going to be revealed when I tot up the cost of all the travel I've done to visit all those schools, but then surely they should be way more profitable than they are? In short, I'm having the existential crisis that I've had all the way through my working career: how do I never manage to earn more money than I spend? Never have done, never will do. The answer must lie in the numbers, but I'm buggered if I can ever find it!
My Books And Where To Find Them... |  |  |  |
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Richard The Third | Findlay Macbeth | Prince of Denmark Street | Midsummer Night's Dream Team |
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Shakespeare Omnibus
| Comic Tales From The Bible
| Joseph, Ruth & Other Stories
| Space Elain
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Colouring Books: Doctors Who, Hollywood Legends, Punk, Cult TV, Eurovision Vol 1, Eurovision Vol 2, Eurovision Best Of British & Irish, 1960s Pop, 1970s Pop, 1980s Pop, 1990s Pop, 2020s Pop, Bowie, Scottish Pop, Royalty, Rom Coms
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