All book publishers face a frustrating dilemma every time they print a new title. The more copies they print, the cheaper each copy becomes. Therefore the profit margin is potentially greater. But if not all of the books sell, then that profit margin is eaten away by paying for unsold books. Striking a balance between printing too many and printing too few is a skill that publishers always try to perfect.
Here’s an example of how the unit cost reduces as the print run increases (the prices indicate the principle rather than the precise cost of a particular book):
|
— _ “ - |
5 = _-=__ —— |
|
Print run |
Unit cost |
|
1 |
£30.00 |
|
100 |
£7.50 |
|
500 |
£4.50 |
|
1,000 |
£2.75 |
|
2,500 |
£2.00 |
|
5,000 |
£1.40 |
|
10,000 |
£0.89 |
|
20,000 |
£0.75 |
The reduction in the unit cost becomes less as the print run increases. It isn’t possible for the savings to continue at the same rate, otherwise the publisher would end up getting them for free if they printed sufficient numbers. Mainstream publishers obtain orders from shops in advance of printing their books, which removes some of the guesswork in deciding quantities. But they don’t just print a number to match the total pre-orders. What about reorders from shops after they’ve sold their initial stock? What about new orders from shops that hadn’t ordered the first time around? What about setting aside a quantity of stock for trade samples, review copies and mail order sales?
Publishers use a rule of thumb to set their print runs, based on a multiple of the advance orders. Typically this will be a factor of three. Get a hundred advance orders and print three hundred books. Get a thousand advance orders and print three thousand. The idea is not to have to reprint the book too soon, and not to have stock that sits in a warehouse for decades. A couple of years’ worth of stock is ideal. When self-publishing it’s likely that the stock will sit somewhere in your house, cluttering your living space, so ensuring that you don’t overestimate your stock requirements is even more important.
HOW DO I CHOOSE A PRINT RUN?
Most of the hundreds of authors whom I helped to publish their own books over the years chose print runs between five hundred and a thousand units. Some chose to print just fifty or one hundred books. These authors stood no chance of making a profit from their venture. Their aim was to create enough copies for themselves, their friends and their families. To earn your investment back from book sales you normally need to sell about a thousand copies. That’s just enough to break even. To make a profit, you need to sell more. These numbers are very approximate and will obviously vary according to the print cost of the book, its selling price, the trade discounts given and other costs that may be associated with the book, such as paying for the use of images from photo libraries.