A comparative analysis and proposal
Prepared by: Autumn Rose White
TWR 2000
Assumptions

 You:
 Are Canadian
 Have an established web-presence and fanbase
 Don’t need a lot of marketing assistance
 Wrote a black-and-white fictional novel (100K words)
 Have rejected traditional publishing
 Want to sell as many copies of your book as possible
 Have a $5,000 budget
Overview
The Companies  The Comparison
• Services
• Price
• Relevance
• Return on investment
• Royalties vs.
commission
• Control
• User reviews
• The good
• The bad
• The ugly
Self-publishing context

 Financial risk = control of the product
 When self-publishing, you own the financial risk,
and you control the product
 Self-publishing companies give access to publishing
expertise
 Use their services to offset and complement your
own strengths and expertise
Self-publishing services

 Production:
 Converting your writing into a sellable format
 Editing, cover design, page formatting, printing
copies, etc.
 Distribution:
 Getting your book onto physical/electronic shelves
 National/international, and electronic or brick and
mortar bookstores
 Marketing:
 Promoting your book
 Website, publicist, book trailer, press release, etc.
Service comparison

Basic services
$0
ISBN registration, cover design-wizard, conversion to ePub, binding and
paper options, distribution on Lulu Marketplace, Amazon.com,
BarnesandNoble.com, and Apple iBookstore
Cover design
$599
Have a marketing professional design your cover
Copyediting
$2,300
Grammar, spelling, punctuation
Word to ePub publishing
$325
Professional assistance in formatting your eBook
GlobalReach distribution
$75
Includes your book in the Ingram catalogue (used by major retailers)
Regional book fair
$1,399
Press release, book displayed face-out and listed in exhibit catalog, fullpage black and white ad, and inclusion in the publisher directory
TOTAL
$4,698
Budget variance
$302
Service comparison

Advantage package
$499
Three cover and two interior templates; paperback and eBook; one free copy;
ISBN; worldwide distribution; book and author pages on Xlibris bookstore; 10
bookstubs
Copyediting
$1,100
Grammar, spelling, punctuation
Basic cover design service
$349
Custom cover designed by a professional
Bookstore returnability
$699
Twelve-month term; bookstores can return books through Ingram, increasing
attractiveness to brick and mortar bookstores
Channel availability and distribution
$499
Your book will be listed in the Books in Print® database, making it available for
purchase through Ingram and Baker & Taylor (book wholesalers in the U.S.)
Online book search
$99
A link to buy your book will be provided on BarnesandNoble.com, Amazon.com,
and Google.com
Regional book fair
$1,199
Press release, book displayed face-out and listed in exhibit catalog, full-page
black and white ad and inclusion in the publisher directory
Marketing professional kit
$399
Five posters, five bound galleys of your book for reviewers, press release, 100
each of postcards, bookmarks and business cards
TOTAL
$4,843
Budget variance
$157
Service comparison

eBook conversion
$0
Convert from Microsoft Word format to nine different eBook
formats
Distribution
$0
Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Baker & Taylor,
Diesel, Page Foundry, and libraries
Data updates
$0
Unlimited updates to book data and metadata at any time
Consolidated sales reporting
$0
Data on sales from all stores in one location for easy reference and
tax-reporting
Author space on Smashwords website
$0
Author webpage and bio, listings of published works, webpages for
individual books, support for embedded YouTube videos, membercontributed reviews, author favouriting, integration with social
bookmarking and social networking, and Smashwords coupons
TOTAL
$0
Budget variance
$5,000
Return on investment

 Profit breakdown
 How much of the profit is paid to you (royalties)?
 How much of the profit is kept by the company
(commission)?
 Price control
 Can you set your own retail price for your book?
 Transparency
 Is the company upfront about their cut of the profits?
Return on investment
comparison





Full control over price
Transparent breakdowns of profit
Commission: 20% (print) / 10% (digital) of profit
Royalty: 80% (print) / 90% (digital) of profit




No control over price without add-on service ($249)
No breakdown of profit provided
Commission: Not specified
Royalty: 25% of retail (increases to 100% of profit
with add-on ($1,599))




Full control over price
Transparent breakdowns of profit
Commission: 15% (digital) of profit
Royalty: 85% (digital) of profit
Commissions vs. royalties

 Black and white, digest-sized paperback with perfect
binding; 100 pages long, publisher grade paper
 Manufacturing cost estimated at $4.30
Breakdown
Retail Price
Manufacturing Cost
Profit
Comission
% of profit
Royalty
% of profit
Lulu
Print
$15.99
-$4.30
$11.69
-$2.34
20%
$9.35
80%
Digital
$15.99
$0.00
$15.99
-$1.60
10%
$14.39
90%
Xlibris
(default book price)
Print
Digital
$15.99
$15.99
-$4.30
$0.00
$11.69
$15.99
-$7.69 -$11.99
66%
75%
$4.00
$4.00
34%
25%
Xlibris
Smashwords
(SYOP Program)
Print
Digital
Digital
$16.99
$16.99
$15.99
-$4.30
$0.00
$0.00
$12.69
$16.99
$15.99
-$9.69 -$13.99
-$2.40
76%
82%
15%
$3.00
$3.00
$13.59
24%
18%
85%
User reviews

 Readily available, well designed information
 Good customer support
 Good quality final paper-copy product





High priced, low-quality services
Poor customer service
Inaccessible/unpaid royalties
Aggressive salespeople
Lack of respect for copyright





High general satisfaction
Broad digital distribution
Formatting problems and slow customer support
Lack of statistical reports if price set to $0.00
Higher sales when dealing directly with vendors
Recommendation

 High number of
positive reviews
 Significant concerns
in user reviews
 Good range of
relevant
services (free
and paid)
 Good range of
relevant services,
but expensive
 Good
distribution
 Best return on
investment
 Lack of
transparency
 Lowest return on
investment
 Lowest degree of
control
 High number of
positive reviews;
some concerns
 Limited range of
relevant services
 Excellent
distribution
 Second-best return
on investment
 No print services
Questions?
