Support for Indie Authors discussion

For initial launch, I've priced my paperback cheaply on both Amazon and IngramSpark: the smallest wholesale discount allowed, and less than $1 royalty for me (roughly $14 retail—it's a big book).

I know a low wholesale discount means booksellers won't consider it. Initially, I'm okay with that. If I used a bigger discount—and added a higher royalty to cover the costs of a likely (30%?) bookseller return rate—the retail price would discourage individual online buyers (more like $22). As a new author, I'd rather make it cheap for individual readers at launch.

But before long, I'd like to consider being more welcoming to booksellers.

I'm considering split pricing: keeping Amazon paperbacks as cheap as possible for individual readers, but increasing the discount and royalty on IS.

Would it be bad if the paperback were that much cheaper on Amazon than on IS? For example, would that cause problems with IS, B&N, or booksellers?

One potential problem I see is that someone could buy the book in a physical bookstore for much more money than on Amazon. I cannot imagine that B&N would be happy with this situation because it makes it look like they are gouging their customers.

Perhaps if you feel you are unlikely to get much retailer interest at first, you could just change the price on both websites at a later time.

From what i've gathered your ebook has to stay same price regardless what store - Prints is a little trickier

BN already knows Amazon charges less (they'd better; it's their industry). As a buyer I know that as well, that's why I buy from Amazon, that and convenience. No, it would not bother me to see a higher price either at BN or independent bookstores.

I agree with M.L., it wouldn't bother me to see the higher price on other retail outlets.

Plus, if you offer the larger wholesale discount on LS, then stores like BN have the option to price lower than the full retail price, because they have that margin to play with.

Just remember to turn off extended reach on Amazon if by any chance you've got 2 different ISBNs.

Thanks, all.

I did a bunch of Excel work and have decided the price would be too different for my comfort. If I fully "pad out" the price on LS—adding a standard 55% wholesale discount and enough of a royalty to cover likely returns—the paperback price would be:

Amazon: $12.99
LS / B&N: $28.90

Which is...ridiculous. And which also highlights the fundamental problem with Print On Demand economics for bookstore sales.

I'm doing some other research on that general question, and will post a new topic with my findings. Short version: it makes no sense for indie POD authors to pin their hopes on significant bookstore sales.

I agree, $28.90 is ridiculous (it says 'vanity press').

$15.99 is reasonable for BN (not Amazon).

If you are doing POD through Ingram, you should charge the same as Amazon (bump their price up to match) Paperbacks should run between $12,99 to $18.00 depending on length and genre. I based my prices on what IS was going to charge and it was $16, 95. If you haven't bought paperbacks recently, the cheapest ones I've found have been $$9.99 and it was a thin book. (< 200 pages) With POD, you don't have returns and Ingram Spark (IS) is good at it. Your hard covers will be $24 and up through IS

B.A. wrote: "With POD, you don't have returns and Ingram Spark (IS) is good at it."

Thanks, B.A. Just so you know, POD through IS does have the option of making the book returnable.

That causes the biggest economic problem. Booksellers want books to be returnable. If you set your book's price high enough that your profit will cover the cost of likely returns, the retail price gets ridiculously high.