Just How Much Does It Cost to Publish a Book Anyway?

One of the growing clichés in independent publishing is that getting a book to market is cheap and easy. The reality can often be quite different, although it is certainly cheaper to go out on your own than it was five or ten years ago. The problem is I haven't seen many stories that define exactly what "cheap" means. Many of the comments on my last essay (See How to Find an Editor Without Going Insane) revolved around the cost of my editor. Since there might be a shortage of independent publishing economics out there, it makes sense for me to expand my costs beyond editing to the entire publishing process for my upcoming book Smooth Operator.

Disclaimer: Prices may vary. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Prices do not include tag, title or taxes. Check with your local dealer for details.

The Elements of Book Publishing
When I was in house counsel for an anime and manga company, the price we paid to sell comics and video (what real business people refer to as the cost of goods sold) were divided into five parts; acquisitions, production, advertising, sales and finance. I decided to break my costs down the same way.

Acquisition in this context means the creation of the manuscript. I set this cost at $0, even though there is a significant number of man hours put into the process (See Building the Better Novel series of posts). In addition there is an associated opportunity cost for lost wages that I could have made doing something else. I'm not smart enough to figure what that cost is, so I set it at zero to keep things simple.

Production has four costs:

• Editing: $1,200 from Create Space (See How to Find an Editor). Other editors charged per word or per page for a 75,000 word manuscript and most of the prices were in this range.
• Cover Design: $10 I do my cover design in house for the most part (because it's cheaper and kind of fun to do), but I get royalty free images from istockphoto.com and $10 covers the licensing cost of a decent sized image.
• Formatting: $40 from a program I called Jutoh that can create e-books in most major formats. Because I plan to use this program for all my books, I could amortize the cost across all titles, but for the sake of this exercise, I'll count the entire cost here.
• Printing: $250 Create Space offers printing on demand, but there is an initial set up fee for this service (Note: if you only release an e-book, this cost is zero. I'm only adding it in because vanity compels me to put my books on my shelf.)

Production Subtotal: $1,490

Advertising has two costs: 

• Online Advertising: $50. This will be split between Google and FB ads for a week after the launch of my book to specific demographic groups that are interested in my genre (See the Secret Struggle for the Magic It)
• Press Release: $60 through pr.com on the day the book launches. Again this will be a targeted release that will improve the SEO of the book as well as notify the relevant journalists and bloggers.

Advertising Subtotal: $110

Sales: $0 When people say independent publishing is cheap, this is what they mean. I'm planning to use Kindle Direct Press for at least one cycle, but even if you use Smashwords, Kobo or Nook, there are no upfront costs for registration, distribution, shipping, storage, returns, or all the other little costs that publishers normally deal with. Of course, online book outlets take a significant percentage the revenue from each sale, but everybody has to eat somehow.

Finance: $0 I have a separate account for my publishing company and there are fees associated with maintaining that, but I don't factor that in here because I'd be paying those fees either way and this is complicated enough already.

Total Cost to publish Smooth Operator: $1,600

Of course, each of these costs could be boiled down to almost zero or expanded to tens of thousands of dollars depending on the writer. The key is to find a cost that fits within your budget and helps you create the best book possible.

Profit, Loss and Breakeven
Once I know how much my book costs, I can figure out how many books I need to sell for it to be financially successful. A book breaks even when the number of books sold equals the cost of making the book. When I was at Marvel, they had a complicated spreadsheet (called a P&L or Profit and Loss statement) that laid this out in great detail. My method is similar, but not as fancy because again, my brain capacity is limited.

The formula is simple: Breakeven number of books = Revenue per book/ $1,600

If my book sells for $2.99 and my share of each Amazon sale is 70%, I make about $2 per book. If that's true, then I need to sell 800 books to breakeven. Every book sold after that is pure profit that I can horde in my basement and swim around in like Scrooge McDuck from Duck Tales. It also follows that the more I can reduce my costs the fewer books I need to sell to break even. A higher per book price also reduces that number, but you don't want to set the price so high that readers won't take a chance on you.

Business vs. Pleasure
Now, I don't have a basement. And I won't be swimming in a pool of money from the sale of Smooth Operator. In fact, the chances that the book will breakeven are quite small. But that's OK. By definition, independent publishing is not a cash cow. If I just wanted to make money, I'd invest in the defense industry or start a meth lab. There are many other reasons to publish besides money (See The Other Benefits of Independent Publishing), but that doesn't mean the profits and losses don't matter. Understanding the financial aspects of independent publishing are just as useful as learning to build web pages or understand social media. Publishing can become a vehicle for broad types of learning, even if you can't make a swimming pool out of the profits.

As always, please let me know what you think of my random rambling.

Have fun.
Gamal

On the Make: Nightlife as a Lifeless Sham

On the Make takes a critical look at image management in the nightlife setting. Using Philadelphia as a case study, the book explores the motivations and tactics of various groups to deceive, manipulate and hustle people for various ends. While the book does offer insight into the intrigues of social interaction, the tone drains almost all pleasure from the actors. It leaves you wondering why anyone would engage in the experience at all.

The central idea behind On the Make is that nightlife can be seen as a series of con jobs or hustles. These are designed by the con artist to separate the victim from something valuable by offering them something worthless (or very close to it) in exchange. Club owners create artificial environments and force their employees to engage in false friendship or flirting to separate the patrons from their money. Public relations companies, local media and promoters make up flimsy events and pay celebrities to show up at venues in the hopes of luring the naïve and desperate. Men engage in complex rituals to solicit sexual contact from women and prove their masculinity to men. Women use more complex (and more successful) tactics to counteract lecherous men, acquire drinks and special treatment and pursue their own sexual conquests. Everyone participates in and has knowledge of a thinly veiled façade designed to create and control image. In nightlife, no one and nothing is what it seems.

There is a significant portion of every urban population that avoids the club scene because they see it as "artificial." That group will find a lot of ammunition for their position in this book. Most of the work paints a negative, predatory picture of nightlife culture. It also largely ignores two important facts. First, image management or hustles are not exclusive to nightlife. They are the common mode of conduct in everyday life. The way most of us act at school, work or at home on a daily basis is as much of an act of deceit as anything that happens in nightlife. Avoiding nightlife in an attempt to avoid fake people or because you don't want to put on an act is futile. Those people and that act are part of your everyday life.

The other thing that Mr. Grazian and other nightlife opponents ignore is the cultural components of nightlife that are fundamental to the experience. Even if you eliminate or discount the musical, fashion, and gastronomic contributions of nightlife culture, the social aspect cannot be discounted. The interaction between people for camaraderie, sexuality and self-expression can be exercised in nightlife in ways that are not acceptable in professional or family life. More importantly, the pleasure and release that can come from nightlife culture does not occur in other aspects of life. Nightlife may in fact be an illusion, but it is an illusion that makes reality worthwhile for the people who enjoy it.

Have fun.
G

Do You Really Need to Quit Your Day Job?

When I look at writer’s forums online, I often get the impression that every writer is striving for the day when they can quit their day job and spend the whole day with their craft. I know the feeling. I’d love to wake up around noon, write for a few hours and then meet friends for happy hours that would turn into late night drinking sessions and dancing. It seems like a natural goal to pursue.

But how realistic is it?

I came across this graphic today while I was wasting time on Facebook. I don’t know if it is true or not, but for some reason it made me happy. Maybe it validates all of us who write and work a day job. Maybe it elegantly separates the quality of writing from financial success. Maybe it’s a warning to any of us who think we’re going to get rich just by being good writers.  (See the Other Benefits of Independent Publishing)

I’m sharing this with you because I’m pretty sure you have a day job as you pursue your dreams as a writer. Congratulations. You are in very good company.

Have fun

G

My New Novella Broken Glass is Now Available for Free!

I’m currently offering a new crime thriller novella for free on Smashwords.

Broken Glass

Russ Warner works as a bartender to the bankers and brokers on Wall Street. He has to deal with arrogant wealthy customers every night, but Alex is the worst of them.

One night, the two men argue over a woman and storm out of the bar. The next morning, one of them is dead. Who’s the killer and how is this common disagreement tied to a much larger conspiracy?

If you decide to read it, please let me know what you think by writing me a review. Every opinion helps, whether it’s good or bad.

Have fun.
Gamal

My New Novella Dead on Arrival is Now Available for Free

I’m offering a new crime thriller novella for free on Smashwords.

Dead on Arrival

It was supposed to be a simple job. All Hamilton Chu had to do was pick up a VIP at the airport and bring him to the safe house. How hard could that be for a veteran covert operator? The simple job gets a lot more complicated, when he finds out that assassins, deception and murder are all included in the assignment. In the end, if Chu can’t find the killer and stop him, this simple job could be his last job.

If you decide to read it, please let me know what you think by writing me a review. Every opinion helps, whether it’s good or bad.

Have fun.
Gamal

Selling Books Like a Drug Dealer: Free vs. Almost Free

How much would you pay for an e-Book?

In 2012, price is an amorphous concept in digital publishing. I read more than a few books for free. I have rejected a book priced at $4.99 because I didn’t think it was worth it. I have paid more than $10 for a book I really wanted. You can’t nail it down. It all comes back to a concept that I learned in Economics 101; as a seller, the “right” price is highest price that the market will bear for any particular item.

So how much will the market bear to read my short stories? This question has plagued me since I started publishing. At first, I thought that $2.99 would work, then I tried free on Kindle Direct Publishing, then I tried $1.99 and so on. After six months, these experiments have led me to a conclusion; the price of the story doesn’t really matter at this point.

Why? Because I haven’t found the audience interested in my style of crime thrillers and I haven’t proven to those readers that my work is worth reading. With so many self published writers competing with the publishing houses and other forms of entertainment, I can’t try to compete with everyone. I have to find my niche and focus on appealing to them. And since people only have a limited amount of time and attention, I have to prove that my work is worth the effort before my audience will read my stories consistently.

So I have come up with a new plan; I am going to target a very narrow segment of the reading population and offer them several of my stories for free. My theory is that once I find the right readers and expose them to my work without any financial risk, they will be more willing to pay for other books later. My hope is that readers become addicted to my style, like a crackhead who can’t get off the pipe. I don’t think people should spend their rent money to pay me or start stealing TV’s to buy my e-books, but I will take the royalty payment without asking a lot of questions.

I currently have three urban horror stories available for free on Smashwords for Halloween. Other stories will go online for free in the coming months on Amazon.com. Try them and let me know what you think. The first ones are free. After that we’re going to have to work something out…

Have fun.
Gamal

Read This New Erotica (Because Everyone Should Get a Second Opinion)

A new erotic story from Nightlife Publishing goes on sale this week. Here is a look at the cover and a preview of the story.

The Second Opinion

He wants to celebrate his birthday and forget his advancing age by spending a night with his lover. When she shows up with her friend, does that mean the end of their night of passion or the start of something else? 

Authors, book reviewers and bloggers who want to write a review for this or any other Nightlife Publishing title should contact me directly at gamalhennessy@gmail.com for press copies.

Have fun

Gamal

Life, Death and Sock Puppets

A few days ago, a New York Times article revealed a little known practice in the self publishing business. It appears that several authors, some of them very high profile, are paying companies to write great reviews for their books on Amazon and on other sites. Some writers go one step further and pay for people to write very bad reviews of books written by their competitors. These paid writers are referred to as sock puppets and they could have a major effect on the publishing industry.

What’s Wrong With Sock Puppets?

The problem sock puppets create is twofold; first because there are so many books available online, many people make their choice of what to read based on skimming the reviews a book gets. They work under the theory that if a lot of other people liked a book, they might like it too. That theory is fine if you tend to like mainstream work, but it completely falls apart if a book gets 75 great reviews all written by one person who was paid to write them.

The bigger issue might affect Amazon directly. I am under the impression that the algorithms that Amazon uses to recommend books to people take the average customer review into account. If there are three hundred books on salsa dancing available, the first books you’re going to see are going to be the ones with more good reviews. I don’t think most people don’t search every result for every book search they do. I’m sure many of them only skim one or two pages of results. If the sock puppet books fill up those pages, the writers who didn’t pay for good reviews will never be seen and never be purchased.

Loving to Hate Sock Puppets

The more I learned about sock puppets, the more ambivalent I became. I spend a lot of time reading and writing about corporate spies and espionage. I am very familiar with the concepts of deception, persuasion and subterfuge. I can accept the idea that paid messages can come in the form of ads, sponsored blogs, subliminal messaging and other forms of psychological warfare. I don’t think there is anything sacred about customer reviews whether they are for hotels, electronics or books. It feels like the inevitable struggle that occurs whenever someone learns how to manipulate a system for their own purposes.

But as a writer I still have questions and dilemmas created by sock puppets. Why should I spend months trying to get real reviews if someone can spend $500 to get 50 fake ones? How do I even know how many sales the sock puppets are going to get me? Are these authors devaluing their own efforts for 10 extra sales or 10,000? Even if I did decided to pay for sock puppets, what am I saying about my own work? The last question is the most important one for me. Does paying for reviews make me a pragmatic publisher who adapts to the market in ways that will maximize sales or does it make me an insecure writer who isn’t confident enough in his work to let it stand on its own?

The Best Stories You May Never Read

At this point, I think I'm just going to go back to writing and leave the sock puppets to their marketing masters. I am too vain about my craft and too unsure about the real benefits of manipulating the system. My refusal to use sock puppets might mean that I am creating the best stories that no one will ever see. But at the very least, I want to feel good about what I'm doing.

Have fun.

G

The Other Benefits of Independent Publishing (Beyond Becoming a Millionaire)

The summer is over and I’m looking back on my self publishing experiment. Three months and seven stories later, I have come to three conclusions:

1.       I started this process with the intent of becoming a writer. I now know that I am not a writer. I am actually a publisher because I have to take care of web design, cover design, marketing, sales, formatting, advertising AND writing.

2.       Although neither the process nor the product have been perfect, I am very proud of what I’ve put out there and I’m excited to write and release more work.

3.       Writing the stories is easy. Getting people to notice them is hard. Getting people to actually read them is almost impossible so far. That means achieving the same sales as Harry Potter, 50 Shades of Gray or the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is still a distant dream.

Does that mean the stories suck and I’m a horrible writer? Maybe. Does that mean my marketing sucks and I’m a horrible advertiser?  Probably. Does that mean I haven’t been lucky enough to reach the right audience yet? Definitely.

A writer for the Huffington Post named Scott Steinberg recently wrote about the benefits of self publishing that go beyond sales numbers. According to him, sales are still important but releasing your own book gives you are chance to:

1.       Increase engagement with your audience

2.       Demonstrate your talents

3.       Provide a low-risk way to test potential markets

4.       Create a unique promotional tool

5.       Promote critical fan feedback

6.       Offer an immediate way to set you apart whether you are an individual, brand or company

I haven’t found a pot of gold after writing for 90 days. I have done everything else on this list and I’m proud of that. The Great Expectations that I wrote about before haven’t changed. If anything, I see my writing taking me to places I could never reach sitting at home and watching TV. Is all this pontification just a rationalization of a failed business venture? It could be. But I would rather find some benefit in the things I enjoy doing instead of giving up because I haven’t made as much money as EL James.

Have fun.
G

Your First Look at Must Be the Music

The new erotic anthology from the Nightlife Publishing goes on sale in a few days. Here is a look at the cover and a preview of the story.

 

These two erotic stories are dedicated to the DJ.

 

In Let the Music Play, a man looks for love behind the turntables and finds himself lured by a beautiful woman into a risky liaison.

 

In Dance for Me, a DJ spins tracks for his lover, but what happens when his music inspires her to dance with another man? 

 

This title goes on sale on Amazon on September 4th. Authors, book reviewers and bloggers who want to write a review for this or any other Nightlife Publishing title should contact me directly at gamalhennessy@gmail.com for press copies.

Your First Look at Family Affair

The new crime thriller from the Nightlife Publishing goes on sale in a few days. Here is a look at the cover and a preview of the story.

 

 

Harrison Trent is a freelance operator who is haunted by his past, paranoid about his present and uncertain of his future. When an alluring acquaintance tempts him to kill for her will he be consumed by his own demons or killed by his predatory enemies?

 

This title goes on sale on Amazon on September 4th. Authors, book reviewers and bloggers who want to write a review for this or any other Nightlife Publishing title should contact me directly at gamalhennessy@gmail.com for press copies.

Asset Management and Sharing Secrets is Now on Sale

Sex Lies and Spies is offering two new stories on Amazon today.

We are offering one espionage story in Asset Management and one erotic story in Sharing Secrets.

Amazon Prime users can download the books for free. If you are in the press, a blogger or a book reviewer & you'd like press copies of my August books please let me know.

Asset Management: ($1.99)

Rose Mendoza is an ambitious young executive looking to make her mark at the security firm of RSVP. One of her first projects is getting rid of an enticing veteran operator named William Baker.  But as Rose learns about Baker’s plans and his connection to the brutal vigilante Ria Marlen she is pulled into a crisis that could end her career or even end her life.

Sharing Secrets: ($.99)
There are two seductive daydreams in this collection:

The Open Window combines voyeurism and exhibitionism on a cold winter night in New York City that burns away the chill for everyone involved.

Toy Story describes a visit to a sex museum that leads to a man’s first encounter with his lover’s personal playthings.

Be sure to check out our other crime, erotica and espionage stories for your Kindle, iPad and smartphone.

Afraid of the Dark (Crime fiction)

Bedtime Stories (Erotica)

The Replacements (Crime Fiction)

Have fun.
Gamal

Sample Pages for Asset Management and Sharing Secrets

If you’d like to get an early sample of my August releases, you can download the PDF’s from the links below.

Asset Management: ($1.99)

Rose Mendoza is an ambitious young executive looking to make her mark at the security firm of RSVP. One of her first projects is getting rid of an enticing veteran operator named William Baker.  But as Rose learns about Baker’s plans and his connection to the brutal vigilante Ria Marlen she is pulled into a crisis that could end her career or even end her life.

Sharing Secrets: ($.99)
There are two seductive daydreams in this collection.

The Open Window combines voyeurism and exhibitionism on a cold winter night in New York City that burns away the chill for everyone involved.

Toy Story describes a visit to a sex museum that leads to a man’s first encounter with his lover’s personal playthings.

The full versions officially go on sale July 26 for Kindle. Amazon Prime users will be able to download the books for free.

Have fun.

Gamal

Your First Look at Sharing Secrets

The new erotic anthology from the Sex and Violence series goes on sale next week. Here is a look at the cover and a preview of the story.

There are two seductive daydreams in this collection.

The Open Window combines voyeurism and exhibitionism on a cold winter night in New York City that burns away the chill for everyone involved.

Toy Story describes a visit to a sex museum that leads to a man’s first encounter with his lover’s personal playthings.

This title goes on sale on Amazon on July 29^th. Authors, book reviewers and bloggers who want to write a review for this or any other Sex and Violence title should contact me directly at gamalhennessy@gmail.com for press copies.

Have fun.

Gamal

Your First Look at the Asset Management Story

The new thriller from the Sex and Violence series goes on sale next week. Here is a look at the cover and a preview of the story.

Rose Mendoza is an ambitious young executive looking to make her mark at the security firm of RSVP. One of her first projects is getting rid of an enticing veteran operator named William Baker.  But as Rose learns about Baker’s plans and his connection to the brutal vigilante Ria Marlen she is pulled into a crisis that could end her career or even end her life.

This title goes on sale on Amazon on July 29^th. Authors, book reviewers and bloggers who want to write a review for this or any other Sex and Violence title should contact me directly at gamalhennessy@gmail.com for press copies.

Have fun.

Gamal

First Impressions

The Sex and Violence store has been opened for about a week at this point. Although the books will be on sale as long as Amazon is in business and my experience as a professional writer is in its infancy, there are a few things that I have already learned. There have been some good things, some bad things and some lessons that I have learned. I’d like to share them with you now.

Positives

1.       I set a start date of June 29^th and I’m happy to say that the whole project launched on time. I was able to create the website, set up three online stores, set up a FB page and populate all of it with content. When you consider that every other business venture I have ever attempted has been delayed, pushed back or dumped altogether, this is a big accomplishment.

2.       The Amazon.com store is fantastic. There have been no hiccups or issues with the service or the availability of the books. Amazon isn’t really helping me sell the books yet, but that’s really not their job. That’s my job.

3.       I sent an email invitation to 2,500 people last Friday. So far, 500 people opened it. That means 500 people are roaming through the world who know I’m selling thrillers and porn. That might not seem like a lot, but with email marketing the most you can reasonably hope for is a 12-15% open rate. The fact that I got almost double that is impressive.

4.       Once I sent the email some people even wrote back to congratulate me on my new venture. That felt good. There isn’t really much to say after that except Thank you.

5.       A friend of mine who has an online radio program invited me for an interview. Publicity is always good and I’m not a man who turns down the invitation to talk, so that’s a win/ win. More details on the radio interview will be posted soon.

6.       A young lady who read Bedtime Stories and gave me the following verbal review:  “Your erotica is very voyeuristic. I felt like I was in the room with you looking over your shoulder as I was reading it.” I think that’s what I was going for. Score one for the writer.

7.       Other writers on Author’s Den really like my profile picture. That’s understandable, considering how sexy my legs look in that particular shot.

Negatives

1.       In the first week, I’ve only sold a ½ dozen copies. Boo.

2.       In the first three weeks, I have only been able to get 1 dozen likes on FB. No bueno.

3.       So far I have sent out two dozen review requests to independent book critics. All of them were ignored or rejected. Ouch.

4.       I found out the hard way that there is no way to contact top Amazon reviewer directly to request a review

Lessons Learned

1.       I am quickly coming to the conclusion that trying to get online reviews might be a waste of time. This might be accurate, or I might just be bitter because I can’t get a review.

2.       FB ads might be a better bet to generate sales, but so far even though 40,000 people have theoretically seen the ad, only 4 people have clicked on it and no one has bought anything. If you ever see one of my ads on FB, please let me know. I’d like to get independent proof that my ads are actually out there.

3.       If you are an independent writer, your “writing” time is divided in the following manner: DIY publishing is 40% back office work, 40% marketing, 15% research and 5% actual writing. I clearly need as assistant and a sales team. If any of you have any ideas on how to get that for free, I would be happy to steal your idea.

I’m sure I have a long way to go and a lot more to learn about the art and business of writing, but so far the positives outweigh the negatives. I can’t really ask for more than that.

Have fun.

G