Why Publishing Costs So Much: Part III

This is the last part of our series on Why Publishing Costs So Much, written by my colleague, Dave Young. Today we'll look at Variable Costs.

Variable Costs...by Dave Young

Book manufacturing has its costs, too. Book printing is generally done on large printing presses, some sheet fed, others fed by rolls of paper (web presses). They're large, costly to buy, and must be operated by skilled craftsmen. The press occu­pies space that must be rented, heated, and otherwise maintained even if the press is not operating. Consequently, owners of these large presses try to keep them busy 24 hours a day by selling their services to several customers, just as a restaurant tries to keep its tables filled with paying customers.

A publisher must get in line to use a press. Then, if something delays the early stages of publishing, such as an author refusing to make requested changes, everything downstream of that event is affected. If the publisher cannot get the work to the printer on schedule, the press may sit idle at the publisher's expense. Then the publisher's book is moved to the end of the line, disrupting promotion and delivery sched­ules. Delays cost money.

In addition to assuming the risks of schedul­ing, the publisher must pay for several print­ing costs. Plates must be made. Press time must be paid for. Paper must be ordered in time for it to be manufactured, then it must be stored prior to printing. All of the elements used in publish­ing a book must be kept track of so that if a second press run is required (don't you wish!) these items can be found quickly and reused. All that costs money.

Printed paper is not much good until it is bound into books. The bindery folds the press sheets into signatures, typically 16 pages of text each. The signatures must be trimmed, then gathered in sequence and sewn (or glued) to the book's spine. (The process is only slightly dif­ferent for per­fect binding used when mak­ing paper­backs.) Cov­ers, wrapped around cover boards, are printed sepa­rately, assembled, possi­bly em­bossed, then wrapped around the signa­tures.

Large publishers do the book printing and manufacturing in-house. Smaller publishers act as contractors, managing the entire process and farming tasks such as printing and binding to specialty companies in the same way that build­ing contractors hire carpenters, plumbers, elec­tricians, and masons. Like a good juggler, they must have several balls in the air at one time if they're to make a living.

But, we're not done. The finished books must be packed in cartons ($5.00 to $10.00 each) and those books don't just jump into the boxes. Somebody's got to put them in there, seal the boxes, then move them into storage, perhaps in another town, until the books are shipped to the stores, creating more labor and storage fees.

Meanwhile, with the other hand, the publish­er is advertising the book to book dealers and taking orders. Advertising in catalogs, which must be printed and distributed, and advertising in space ads, which are printed and distributed by others, all cost up-front money.

Copies of the book are sent to reviewers, who may or may not review it. Still, the publish­er must write, edit, and print cover letters to include with the individually packaged and mailed reviewer copies. That mailing must be attractive, and the packaging is unique to the book.

Orders must be solicited from major dealers. That usually means more printing, mailing, and possibly even paid sales staff to call on the dealers.

Major distributors, who fulfill orders to libraries (a large market), must be catered to as well. They will require sample copies for their own review before placing orders. And take a hefty share of the profits for the privilege of distributing each title.

Distribution (fulfillment) will require paper­work to assure sending the right quantities to fill orders, packing slips, and invoicing. Dealer support services may include designing, printing, and distributing sales aids, like signs and flyers.

Returns must be planned for. Dealers accept copies on the condition that after a certain num­ber of weeks they may return the remaindered copies for refund. That's more handling, book­keeping, and warehousing. On average, 20% of books shipped to dealers are returned.

At this point, the publisher must find ways to unload the returns and unordered copies of the book. Storing them for a rainy day is out of the question; storage isn't free. They may be sold at a price below the cost of manufacture just to free up the warehouse space, which has ongo­ing costs.

Traditional publishers know the ropes yet they often fail to earn enough from a book's sales to cover the up-front costs. It's a gamble. But, profes­sionals win a few more than they lose so, in the long run, they remain profitable.

What are your options?

Do it all yourself? Many people who have a computer and publishing software think they can do it all by themselves. If you bought an artist's studio, easel, paints, brushes, and blank canvas­es, would you be a successful painter? No, you'd be an amateur painter with a lot of nice tools.

Well, you could publish your yourself, but you would be an amateur with a lot of nice tools trying to do a profes­sional's job. You'll have to write the book, edit it, design it, and get it printed. That takes time and money and skills you don't yet have. And, since there's no guar­antee that you'll sell copies, there's signifi­cant risk.

It's a fact that your first attempt to do any­thing usually ends in failure. I used to tell my kids, "The first draft is the worst draft." That's true not only for manu­scripts but for first at­tempts at anything. It takes several tries to be­come skillful.

Would­n't it be wiser to direct your ener­gy into becom­ing a skilled writer, then get some expert help for the publishing and distribu­tion?

Book publishing is often compared to deliv­er­ing a baby. It's a joyful event if it is success­ful. You could do it yourself, but wouldn't you like a little profession­al help with the birthing?

Vanity publishing? You could hire a printer who will take your manuscript and print it (ver­batim) in a professional format. You'll have to pay for cover design, formatting, and actual printing costs, plus you'll have to pay to have the books shipped to your warehouse (garage?) for storage. Then you will have to do your own mar­keting and sales fulfill­ment. Printing a thou­sand books could cost you several thousand dollars. Advertising and distri­bution will add to the costs. Can you afford to gamble that much time and money, or would your time be better spent writing the next book?

Printing on Demand. Today's printing on demand (POD) publishers reduce up-front costs in several ways, primarily by producing, packag­ing and shipping only the books that are or­dered, after they are ordered. This avoids the tremendous investment in printing and warehous­ing books that may not sell, or that may be sold and returned. Some POD publishers provide professional help with editing, design, and sales. Printing on demand does not elimi­nate the fixed costs listed above, but it sure takes a bite out of the printing and warehousing costs. There will still be up-front costs. All those who work on a book, editors, design­ers, print­ers, etc., are skilled workers who must be fairly paid.

The bottom line is this: whoever publishes the book must learn the publishing trade, man­age the many tasks involved, take the financial risks, and pay the up-front costs before any money from sales is realized. Are you up to the challenge?

David R. Young is a free-lance writer and editor based in Rochester, New York. He has over 50 years' experience in publishing.

Comments

[Yvonne DiVita]

Markus, thank you for visiting our blog and commenting on these posts. We try to be totally open and truthful with our authors. At WME we work hard to help our authors succeed, so outlining the costs just seems like a good idea. Good luck with your search. Be sure to visit Booklocker and iUniverse. They could be useful to you. If you have any other questions, feel free to email me: divita@wmebooks.com

[Markus Adams]

I have just recently completed a manuscript and am in the process of trying to locate a publisher. This is my first attempt at writing so, I know nothing about it or the publishing side of things. But is did want to make two comments:

First, words cannot describe how valuable these articles are. I now have some idea of what happens on the publishing side of writing a book. These are things that the average new author does not think of. Thank you.

And, secondly, I have been searching some of the writers forums on-line and see that some writers that have had their work turned down have been cruel in their remarks about a publisher. One of the issues was concerning a four thousand dollar committment on the part of the author. After reading what was written by Dave Young, I feel that this should be posted on every forum when would-be authors complain about pricing.

Markus,