Start Your Own Publishing Business
In 1998, I started my first website, Romancetips.com. Romancetips is a collection of romantic tips, romance advice, date ideas, and all things romantic. Romancetips.com has grown into a site with over 1,000 romantic tips and ideas and I used this as a platform to write a book, Creative Romance.
Creative Romance was published in 2004 and has enjoyed decent success with a good community of visitors to Romancetips.com. Now, as Valentine's Day approaches, I am reminded of my roots in the web business with Romancetips.com and how it has launched a dozen sites in a variety of topics.
Start My Own Publishing Business
One business idea I recently updated on ExploreStartups.com is How to Start a Publishing Company. If you currently have a book written, or have a platform to provide credibility, you can write a book and self publish it. The finances are such that it works out very well.
Print on Demand Economics
The improvements in print-on-demand technology has resulted in the ability to self-publish at a very affordable rate. Let's look at the costs to setup a book and how much money you could potentially make. Your setup charges as a publisher are about $150 to get a book ready with a print-on-demand printer. Once your book is setup, a 200 page 6x9 book is about $5 a copy. Let's say you set a $17.95 retail price and offer a 50% discount to booksellers (industry standard is 55%, but you can get away with 50% - or even 45%).
$17.95 - $8.98 (50% discount) = $8.97
$8.97 - $5.00 (cost per copy) = $3.97
As a first time author, you will probably get a deal with a publisher paying you a 5% commission on retail (minus returns, etc which we will ignore for the sake of this example). On a $17.95 retail price, you will earn about $0.90 per book sold in commission.
With $150 setup charge, you only need to sell 38 copies of your book to break even.
Let's say you had more cost in your book - let's assume you spent $1,000 to have the book edited, a cover design, the interior layout designed, and to purchase a stock photo for the cover. Your cost is now $1,150.
Now, you need to sell 290 books to break even. A good book signing will eat into a fourth of that. Speaking at a conference on your topic? Another 50 books sold. You can easily make back the break even if your topic is even mildly interesting.
Earning More with Amazon.com
As a publisher, you can sell your books directly on Amazon.com and earn even more income. On each product page, there is a button on the right hand side that says, "Sell Yours Here." Once you click on that link, you will be led through a wizard to sell your books.
Here's how the economics work out:
Let's say your 200 page book retails at $17.95, list your "new" condition copies for slightly less, such as $14.95. Amazon.com takes a $3.98 commision on the sale of your book:
$14.95 - $3.98 = $10.97
Amazon also provides a $3.99 shipping credit for the sale:
$10.97 + $3.99 = $14.96
You need to ship the book, so you go to the Post Office and choose "Media Mail" service. Media Mail is around $2 for a book.
$14.96 - $2.00 = $12.96
You have a little greater cost in books you print and ship to yourself - you have to pay shipping, etc. Let's say the books cost you $6 each.
$12.96 - $6.00 = $6.96
Now, you have netted $8.59 for the sale of a single book; much more than your $3.97 commission earlier!
One of the benefits of this method is that Amazon provides you the email address and physical address to ship the book. You are building a client list so as you publish future books, you have a great method to promote it.
Buy a copy of Creative Romance this year to enjoy your Valentine's Day with your partner.
Visit our self-publishing business idea to understand how it works and how you can start your own book publisher.
