The Journal: A Little More on Publishing to Paper

In today’s Journal

* A Little More on Publishing to Paper
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

A Little More on Publishing to Paper

Yesterday I mentioned that I probably would not be taking my publications into paper. I have a couple more things to say about that, and I should have said them yesterday:

One: I’ve had a lot of my novels and collections out in paper, so this isn’t something I’ve never tried. But those books didn’t sell very well, probably because they were priced three or four times higher than the ebook versions. And remember, that’s for exactly the same content.

Two: I meant in no way to hint at or otherwise suggest what YOU should do with your own publications. That’s up to you. I’m only playing devil’s advocate, giving you something to consider. I have at least one friend who publishes ONLY to paper.

Dean Wesley Smith actually recommends going to paper with all publications. He reasons that a paper book will typically go through five or six readers in its lifetime, thereby making more readers aware of your name (discoverability). It’s probably important to note that although Dean sometimes does the layout, cover design etc. himself, he doesn’t have to. All he really has to do is turn his work in to his employees at WMG Publishing.

For me personally, discoverability isn’t a good enough reason to expend the time and/or money to take my publications to paper. For just one thing, even after I get in the flow again of doing layout, a full cover spread, etc., it will still take at least an hour to lay out a novel, and probably more like two or three hours. That’s if everything goes smoothly, and it doesn’t include proofing, corrections, etc. after the book is printed. Finally, I’ll have to price the paper book much higher than its ebook version, yet I’ll make only a little over $2 per sale. As Redd Foxx used to say, that’s just bad math.

On a paper book with a cover price of $15.99, a $2 royalty is 12.5%, about what traditional publishers pay.

On the same ebook with a cover price of $5.99, I’ll make a 70% royalty, or $4.20. So I can sell ebooks for less (so the price is more attractive to potential buyers) yet I’ll make over twice as much on the royalty. Just sayin’.

Talk with you again later.

Of Interest

Nada

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 400 words

Writing of WCGN 5: Tentative Title (novel)

Day 1…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX

Total fiction words for October……… XXXX
Total fiction words for the year………… 623282
Total nonfiction words for October… 8100
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 174060
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 797342

Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 13
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 66
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31

Disclaimer: In this blog, I provide advice on writing fiction. I advocate a technique called Writing Into the Dark. To be crystal clear, WITD is not “the only way” to write, nor will I ever say it is. However, as I am the only writer who advocates WITD both publicly and regularly, I will continue to do so, among myriad other topics.