Glossary
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S&H
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Part II
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Genealogy & History
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Part III
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After your bookselling decisions, begin to market - click here for more information and suggestions.
Early Book Selling Decisions To Make For Success
Beginning to set a purchase price | Shipping and Handling Background Information | Design Ideas
With most genealogy and history books, one should not expect to make up all of the expenses of gathering the information and producing a manuscript, as well as the publishing costs, with a small printing. Many times a book has been years in the making and to distribute total cost out over even 500 books would make the books much more expensive then most buyers can afford.
That
said, with few exceptions, the purchase price of a book should cover the
publishing costs. Two other things that may be included in costs when
choosing a retail price are shipping and handling as well
as a wholesale discount. However, with the rise of Print on Demand,
publishers are seeing more books printed expressly for gifts. With gift
books, the author should either tailor the book project to come in within a se
t
budget, or realize that their perfect book may not adhere to any budget.
Setting your retail or purchase price is important and should be done fairly early. When setting your retail price, determine the general cost, estimating on the side of caution if exact total costs are unavailable to you before publishing. A word of caution however, do not set the sales price before you have a good idea of what your costs will be. Many authors set a retail price too early - often, even before choosing someone to produce the book.
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If archival quality is important, one should take a moment and define what exactly is important to them and why. After this is complete, they can begin seeking printer/publishers and/or methods for their book production. Always query about definition of archival words and jargon, as they seem to vary widely - never assume. |
Once you have arrived at specific general publishing costs, one should decide if they will include shipping and handling in retail or add it on top. For many years, including shipping and handling for a one price only cost was appealing. In today's society though, everyone is getting used to adding S&H and depending on your S&H fee structure, this may actually encourage larger orders.
To the
figure you have thus far, one may want to add an amount for
"profit". Additionally, one may
choose to offer their book to other bookstores. The publishing world
recognizes a universal 40% of retail (sale price) as "wholesale"
purchase price. Because of
this, once you arrive at a price you are comfortable with, if you want to offer
the book for wholesale, add 40% or more to arrive at your retail price.
Pre-publication price/sale: If you don't already know who your target audience is for your book, it's not to early too start finding out. Once you know who your audience (potential buyers) is, contact them before your book is back from the publishers. Extend them the courtesy of a special price (we suggest at least $10 off or 30-40%, if it has been built in) if they send you a paid order by the publication date. We find that giving people around a month works well for postal contacts. Email and phone contacts wouldn't need quite as long. If you decided to go with a wholesale price as discussed last issue, you could offer the same price as pre-publication or a higher one.
By
extending a pre-publication special, you single out customers and make them feel
special in addition to
helping
out in the wallet! This is especially good for the author who is funding
their own publication. Our company even offers 200 free flyers with any
offset printing order to help with this effort.
With pre-publication sales, consider
offering, in addition to the pre-publication payment discount, something special
about those paid books. It could be author signed, numbered, include a
color photo page, color divider pages, custom frontice piece, or an improved
binding for an extra charge. If the publishing project is for softbound
books, offer a hardbound collectors edition price in addition to the regular
discount softbound edition. If going the hardbound/softbound marketing
route, don't forget to market to your libraries, especially if you are able to
offer the hardbound edition for not much more than the standard retail for the
softbound edition
will
be. Some authors choose to pre-pub printed books while marketing electronic
editions. This generally results in only those paid orders getting printed
books. Everyone else would be offered the E-books.
Don't overlook selling your books to bookstores - especially if you've built in a wholesale price. Most bookstores (both chain and independent) have a local interest section. Contact all bookstores (don't overlook the "biggies" like Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, etc.) by phone to set up an appointment. Arrive on time, with either an Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) as an example, or the actual book in hand. Please note that most book stores will expect a 40% discount from retail and may require return privledges.
About shipping and handling: (standard Gregath shipping materials)
As mentioned above, shipping and handling can be added to the retail price for a all inclusive cost or "one price only cost". It can also be applied as an added fee, if mailing (which gives handling FREE to those not shipped). Regardless, it is in the seller's best interest to choose a method of shipping and arrive at a cost for both shipping and handling before marketing.
Shipping and handling costs include:
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When
setting these costs, take into consideration possible inflation for further
supplies as well as effort taken to store those books that may not sell this
year. Your actual shipping cost/method needs to be examined closely too -
when does your chosen carrier (USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc.) anticipate a price increase?
Overseas orders? Most overseas book buyers realize there may be additional expense in ordering. Because of this, usually this is not addressed specifically. However, if you wish, it is always nice, when possible, to add a line to the extent of "orders outside of the USA, contact for additional charges".
United
States Postal Service/Post Office (USPS):
The easiest type of shipping to set a cost on is the Post Office because
they have a general postage tables for the United States that are not always dependent
on the amount of distance a package travels (like UPS, FedEx, etc.). All USPS
postage (and other information) can be found online at their website.
Because it is so easy to generalize, we have devoted more space to USPS then the
others. USPS provides, free of charge, some packaging materials for
Priority class through their website and your local post office may be able to
supply you as well.
There are several different classes of mail for the USPS. However, for book mailing the two classes (unless the seller is, or partnered with, a library) best used for individual book sales are first class and media mail:
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media mail (package service) is the least expensive (overall) of the USPS classes for heavy book packages. Small format/light books may actually be more economical to send first class. Before 9/11, the post office requested allowing 2 weeks for delivery of this class. The maximum weight for this class is 70 pounds, however for larger packages (multiple books) you should check to see if parcel post is less expensive - unless you have guaranteed a particular class for shipping. Bulk quantities and bar-coded discounts are available if you have the capacity/need for either one. (USPS 8/8/2002)
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first class mail (small books)/priority mail (heavier books/packages) is more expensive for heavier mailings, but arrives within a week - usually. Additionally, it is easy to add insurance (extra expense but sometimes worth it) and other add on features such as delivery notification and tracking that are not available with media mail. (USPS 8/8/2002)
As with any class of mail, media mail has some rules you may not be aware of. One of which is that no billing invoice or advertisement may be placed in the mailing - such as additional book order forms or "other titles available" material. As always when sending through the post office, packing slip/inventory with arrival address is still encouraged.
If you choose to send your books via
USPS Priority (light weight
orders can sometimes be sent
first class less expensively), you can order your
boxes, labels and tape free of charge directly from the US postal service online at
http://www.usps.com. If the book is of
the right size, the post office also offers a flat rate Priority envelope and boxes ("shirtbox"
and 2 "shoebox" sizes) that may save on postage as well. Regardless
of savings, flat rate envelopes/boxes make figuring your postage very easy
domestically. "If it fits, it ships" - there is no way to exceed the weight cap
(70 pounds) for traditional books. There are stipulations you'll need to adhere to that are listed on
their website including you must use the provided free shipping materials for priority class only. While the
materials are free, there is sometimes a tiny ($1 or so) "handling charge" per
order, so order as much as you feel you'll need per order.
UPS
and FedEx:
Both UPS and FedEx have computer programs that can allow you to easily
figure shipping and assist you in shipping. However, their shipping prices
are based geographically and may include varying surcharges (gas, etc.) -
sometimes not included in the computer programs figures. Many people who prefer to ship this method
figure the package weight to the farthest US point and use that as cost.
Third party stores and
businesses:
There are many places (Kinko's, hardware store, etc.) where you can take
the books and shipping addresses and they'll ship them for you. Some of these
places charge a reasonable fee for this service, and some are fairly expensive.
If you choose to go this route, it is suggested that you get a guarantee of fees
for a fixed time period so your S&H fees are not always changing.
Many
authors choose their book shipping method and secure the materials necessary as
they receive their published books - sometimes even before. Once the books
arrive, they repackage them from their bulk containers into the single book
mailing boxes (or envelopes), complete with the return address marked and any
insert information. Then, when they have an order, all they have to do is
address the package and mail it. If they have a multiple order, boxes can be
strapped together with tape, or they can still be shipped individually. This
is of use when trying to "freeze" S&H costs over time while figuring sales
price.
For the author who has more than one book in print, if they wish to repackage their books into ready to mail, individual packages, the outside of each box should be marked with the title. This should be done the same way (red marker, white label, etc.) and placed in the same approximate place on the package (bottom/center, left on one end, below the return address, etc.) for easy reference. Please note that some carriers have restrictions on additional print. Currently, most are OK with markings as long as they are not distracting from the delivery information. USPS also recommends nothing be printed below the delivery address on the addressed side of the package.
After your bookselling decisions, begin to market
- click here for more information and suggestions.
References:
-
Publisher Experience
For more suggestions, order our book:
WRITING Family
History Or Genealogy For Pleasure and Profit, by The Gregath
Publishing Company, *updated* 2007. ISBN: 0-944619-00-2, 8½x11",
softbound book, 126 pages, suggestions & examples of all facets of your project
for the typist and/or computer user.
Also available on disk. | Click here for more
information.| G550-$10.00
SCL
Page Last Updated: May 07, 2008
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