How Much is Too Much to Charge for a Certain Type of Self-Publishing?

[John Caliber]

Hello,

This question concerns having no option other than to charge a minimum amount to see a return on a hypothetical, self-published book. Here would be such a project's Vital Statistics:

Full Colour Cover & Interior
US Letter-sized (8x11")
Paperback
Perfect Bound.
100 pages.

The manufacturing cost I've been quoted per print is £13.50 ... then there would be various other costs added, bringing it into the region of £20.00.

I'm requesting the opinions of others as my health circumstances mean I have to buy all my books via the post and always purchase them at discounts, so I don't know - for this kind of project - what constitutes as a reasonable starting RRP? What with the ever-increasing prices for books, might £20.00 be acceptable?

Thanking you,
- John

[Danbell]

If I saw this at a convention I'd think it was be too much. I think that amount is too much for a hardback from Marvel or DC even. Is this really the cheapest quote you can get?

If you can get it at actual cost price, £13.50, then I'd charge no more than £14.00. Not a massive profit but people are more likely to but it. It depends what you're aiming at, a good return or people reading your comic.

Anyway, hope it all goes well.

Dan

[John Caliber]

It's useful to bear in mind that Marvel and DCs TPBs are all reprints, saving them production costs, whereas my stuff would be entirely original. I'm publishing some graphic novels at the usual comic book dimensions (a full colour, 100-page graphic novel would cost RRP £28.00, but a b/w version would cost RRP £13.00), and some Letter-sized, text-driven reference books where the above quote actually does apply). BUT, if I sell them privately and skip the middlemen, the hefty retail markup would be deleted, which makes a substantial difference.

I may well still approach UK publishers about handling the graphic novels, but this is a fall-back tactic in case I don't get any takers. Creatively, it would do the project a lot of good to be in full colour.

[Bolt-01]

John, that really is a hefty price tag for a SP book. Even one in colour. I'm assuming that some of this is coming from the print being an on-demand style to reduce your overhead? Personally I reckon you are biting off more than you can chew without having a war chest behind you. Even for FQ, we are only really beginning to talk about a collection in book form- simply because it would be a massive sink hole for funds initially with little return.

[John Caliber]

Yes, the original graphic novels would have been self-published, my intent to make a half-decent profit from them (publishing four volumes next year), so it appears the self-publishing route is a dead end. Of course, I could offer the books as digital volumes, in various forms to make the most of different viewing platforms (monitors, IPads, etc). JK Rowling has just announced she's only going to be writing new fictions in the digital format, which helps all us beleagured small-press publishers

I might approach a literary agent first, see if they'll sign me up, rather than become exhausted and sick by having to oversee endless publicity drives.