How Self-Publishing Companies Mark-Up Book Printing Costs

Mill City Press is the only self-publishing company that doesn't mark up the printing costs of books.  Our authors pay what we pay for book printing.  Period. 

Keep reading and you´ll understand how our commitment to never mark up the printing costs of your book will save you hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars.

Visit any other self-publishing company´s website and you´ll see what they tell authors it costs to print a book, usually in the form of how much of a discount the author receives when he or she orders copies of his or her own book.

On average, one 200 page, 5.5 x 8.5 paperback, with a laminated, full color cover costs a self-publishing company about $3.90 to print ($.015 per page plus $.90 for the cover).

Below is a chart that shows you:


Publisher

Actual Print Cost of 200 page, 8.5 x 5.5. paperback

Cost at which Author can purchase book at a discount from Publisher

Printing profit Publisher makes EACH time a book ordered (by public or Author)

Profit Publisher makes when 200 books printed.

Mill City Press

$3.90

$3.90

$0

$0

iUniverse

$3.90

$11.19*

$7.29

$980

Lulu.com

$3.90

$8.53**

$4.63

$494

Trafford

$3.90

$8.37***

$4.47

$844

Xlibris

$3.90

$13.19****

$9.29

$1,462

Authorhouse

$3.90

$9.83*****

$5.93

$990

Since most self-publishing companies use the same book printers and pay the same amount to print a book, the cost to the author shouldn´t vary from publisher to publisher.  Right? Sadly, the chart above demonstrates otherwise.

Mill City Press is the only self-publishing company that doesn´t make a profit every time your book is printed.  By inflating print costs and taking royalties, most self-publishing companies ensure that the only one profiting from your book sales is the publisher.

Mill City Press believes that the author should be the one who profits from their book, not the publisher.

At Mill City Press, you pay the exact wholesale price that we pay. We pass the pricing the printer gives us directly to our authors.  There is no mark-up at all.

You can order as little as one book if you wish and still pay exactly what the printer charges us. (On all orders after the initial one, we do charge a nominal administrative fee of $23 to cover our time to submit and track the order for you, but that´s it).

Publish Your Book Now Without Overpaying for Book Printing



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* http://www.iuniverse.com/how-we-work/pricing-royalties/author-discounts.htm and www.iuniverse.com/how-we-work/pricing-royalties/book-pricing.htm.  The figure is based on 30% off retail price of $14.95 for orders of 6-19 books.  Authors pay $8.80 per book for orders of 200 or more.
** http://www.lulu.com/help/index.php?fSymbol=book_pricing.  Author pays $6.37 per book for 200 books
*** http://www2.trafford.com/calc/index.htm.  Author pays $8.37 per book for 1-49 books and $8.12 per book for 200 books.
**** http://www2.xlibris.com/bookpricing/chart2.pdf .  Author pays $13.19 per book for 25-49 books and $11.21 per book for 200 books.
***** Taken from section on Authorhouse in The Fine Print of Self-Publishing (p.207) .  Author pays $8.85 per book for 200 books and $9.85 for lesser amounts.

NOTE:  The book printing fees above were current as of 5/1/2008.  Publishers' book printing fees are subject to change at any time.