On the weekend I went into Fireside Books in Parksville (BC) to buy a tee shirt. I asked the woman at the cash register about how self-published authors can get their books into their store. After she explained it to me, she told me that the biggest problem they encounter as a bookseller is that indie publishers come in and ask them how much to sell the book for. She correctly pointed out that is not the booksellers decision. And she was quite right.

In the publishing industry, pricing is done very differently from most other manufacturing. Instead of a manufacturer’s price, wholesale price and retail price, books are made with the final retail price already printed on the cover. Then they are discounted at the wholesale and retail sales level. We all agree this is backward, but that’s the industry. You have to figure out the price early in the publishing process because it is required for the barcode, Legal Deposit and Bowkerlink.

So let’s talk about book pricing.

You want to price it so you make money from the book, but ensure the price is not so high that no one will want to buy it. You want to make sure you are making a reasonable profit from your business venture. If you have a good book, there is no reason why you should have to support your self-publishing like it was a hobby. You might not make a lot of money, but you should at least make enough to pay for the product.

So just how does one actually price a book? There is a set industry standard which most self-publishers know nothing about. Of the three books on self-publishing that I checked, I found recommendations for pricing as varied as “4-5 times”, “5-8 times”, and “not less than 8″ times the production cost. One author even suggested that mail order how-to books run 10-20 times production cost. How is that for variation? In Canada, trade publishers use a formula to determine the cost of a book.

• F (fixed cost) + V (variable cost) = Production cost
• Production cost / Print run = Unit cost
• Unit cost x cost factor (4,5,6) = Cover price

So what does this mean? Fixed costs remain the same no matter how many books you print and can include editing, cover design and typesetting. Variable costs are those that change with the size of the print run and can include paper, printing costs, and cost of binding. You add these costs up and divide that amount by the number of books you plan to produce. This gives you the exact cost of producing each book or the unit cost. Canadian publishers multiply the unit cost by either 4, 5, or 6 to get their markup. So how do you determine the markup of your book?

First you need to determine is the number of pages you will have in the printed book. The total page count includes front and back matter. Your print costs will also be strongly influenced by total page count. Then go to your favourite bookstore and find books with the same (or close to) page count, same number of colours on the cover, and similar subject matter. This will give you a ballpark idea of the price that books like yours are selling for.

Then you have to figure out the expenses involved with producing your book. Include editing, typesetting, design, cover, and printing costs as well as advertising and marketing costs. If you do not have all these costs figured out yet, now is the time to do it. You will need to get printer’s estimates and decide which one you will accept. Pull all the information together to make your decision. After you have calculated all costs involved in the production of the book, divide the total by the number of books you intend to print (the print run) to reach the unit cost. Then multiply that number by 5 (the markup). See how it stacks up against the books you have looked at in the bookstore. Decide if you have to adjust the price lower or higher. If it is within a dollar of other books, you should be okay.

Do not choose a price that is an even amount. The “rule of .95″ is the rule of consumerism. If your book is worth about $15.00, price it at $14.95. Even though consumers are cost savvy, many studies show that this strategy still works.

A concerning habit that some new self-publishers have adopted is to not put the book price on the cover. Again, that is the industry standard, so your book will stand out as not done professionally. Remember, the traditional publishers are your competition, so indie books have to have all the components of their books. Figure out your price and put it on the cover in the barcode. It is not hard and it makes your book look stack up well against other books on the shelf.