Paperbacks...

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adrianstaccato

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...Should one bother with them?

I've heard conflicting reports from authors. Some say they rarely sell compared to the kindle format and are a waste of time. Others say that a paperback giveaway on Goodreads works wonders to increase exposure. Also, some believe that just offering a paperback can increase your kindle sales, since readers like to see a deal ($11 paperback vs. $2.99 kindle).

For those authors who have used Createspace and have paperbacks for sale, what are your thoughts?
 

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I'd have thought that it's worth doing, if it costs you nothing (or very little). There are plenty of people (me, for example) who prefer to read print editions, and you might well make a few sales to them: isn't it worth making your books available in as many ways as possible, in order to maximise sales?

I'd caution most self-publishers against buying an offset print run of their books as the chances of making a decent return on them are small: but if you can use digital publishing, and print off a few at a time and rely on POD for your orders, then surely it's worth it?
 

merrihiatt

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I like having paperback books available along with e-books. Having said that, most books barely make back the $25 expanded sales channel distribution fee. I have quite a few books available and I believe it has helped sales and given those readers without e-readers a way to read my book. Every book is different, though. I made more than $25 on last year's short Christmas story. You don't have to pay for placement on Amazon if you go through CreateSpace. I wanted my books on Barnes & Noble and other sales channels, so paid the fee. I've also done Goodreads giveaways.
 

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I'd think having a paperback available is a good idea.

It is possible to set the type even in MS Word to some extent; you can have reasonable text on decent leading with fair tracking, and still control the cover price for the average novel.

But do look at some similar trade published books. Look at the various parts of the book. Notice how chapters open, and what the first paragraph after a chapter heading is like.

Notice how section breaks within a chapter are handled.

Look at colophons, even on older books, and notice what kind of typeface is used where. Don't think single or double space so much as what size point on what leading.

Print out some sample pages at the size you're using for your book page (all the POD services have templates; use them). How readable are they? Is it pleasant to read?

Be aware that word processors do odd things with curly quotes/apostrophes near punctuation, especially em-dashes. Watch for awkward looking line breaks.
 

frimble3

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And, get a few of copies of the finished product and check it carefully for physical defects.
Few things put a reader off like a book that's physically unpleasant to read: cover popping off, pages falling out, signatures pulling loose. A book that we're afraid to handle is not a book we'll remember favourably. It happens to books by the big publishers, too, but we can return them. (And suggest that the store check the rest of their stocks.)
 

sarahdalton

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I agree with what other people have said. It is worth it but you need to do it well and make the book look professional. For that you will need a decent cover. I think Create Space use templates which can help so don't panic too much about the formatting.

Since my book went on Amazon paperback at the end of September I've sold 2 copies in paperback in the US alone. I won't count my UK sales as I know they are mainly friends and family, but the point is that you can make sales.

I'm also running a competition for a signed copy on Goodreads so we'll see how that goes.
 

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It is another avenue for sales. Those that make no print sales at all may have issues with their pricing and/or distribution method. Or they may be in a genre that leans to ebooks (e.g. short erotic fiction, self help).
 

adrianstaccato

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I like having paperback books available along with e-books. Having said that, most books barely make back the $25 expanded sales channel distribution fee. I have quite a few books available and I believe it has helped sales and given those readers without e-readers a way to read my book. Every book is different, though. I made more than $25 on last year's short Christmas story. You don't have to pay for placement on Amazon if you go through CreateSpace. I wanted my books on Barnes & Noble and other sales channels, so paid the fee. I've also done Goodreads giveaways.

How have your Goodreads giveaways gone? Have they generated sales?

I'm thinking over the Christmas holidays I'm going to buckle down and get to work on the release of a paperback.
 

merrihiatt

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How have your Goodreads giveaways gone? Have they generated sales?

I'm thinking over the Christmas holidays I'm going to buckle down and get to work on the release of a paperback.

I generally have 800-1,200 people enter the giveaways. There's really no way to tell if sales have been generated; however, it does usually generate reviews, which I do believe helps sales.

If you're going to use CreateSpace, they have templates that make it much easier to format.
 

adrianstaccato

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I generally have 800-1,200 people enter the giveaways. There's really no way to tell if sales have been generated; however, it does usually generate reviews, which I do believe helps sales.

If you're going to use CreateSpace, they have templates that make it much easier to format.

When you ran a giveaway, how did you promote it?
 

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I don't use the expanded sales, so I can't speak to that, but POD has been a great venue for my books. I have many people who buy both versions. Some have even sent me the book to sign, which is awesome =)
 

MartinD

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My beta buddy uses POD but not for sales. (There's been very few.) She says her mother only reads print and, being a proud daughter, she wants to see her novel on Mom's bookshelf.
 
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My self published book is available on both paperback and E-book. My only complaint is that purchasing a paperback format is way too dang expensive. On CreateSpace, it cost me like $700 when compared to the $70 E-book conversion.
 

annetpfeffer

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My paperbacks don't sell many copies, but they're good to have because:

1) A number of bloggers will only review paperbacks

2) Other circumstances, such as Goodreads giveaways, require a paperback

3) There's nothing more satisfying than holding and reading a paper version of your own book. For that reason alone, I would do it!

I also agree with previous remarks that it's important to keep the costs of the paperback low, e.g. by doing it as a POD, etc.
 

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My self published book is available on both paperback and E-book. My only complaint is that purchasing a paperback format is way too dang expensive. On CreateSpace, it cost me like $700 when compared to the $70 E-book conversion.

It costs $700 to publish on CreateSpace? I thought there was a free option. Are you sure about that amount?
 

TheKoB

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Also, don't you get less royaltie fees for paperback books? I think to have read that ebooks get you up to 70% whereas you are stuck with 12% when publishing paperback.

I could be severely wrong on this one too. :snoopy:
 

stranger

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It costs $700 to publish on CreateSpace? I thought there was a free option. Are you sure about that amount?

There definitely is a free option. I guess StarChaser paid that much for print book formatting. If so, sounds like a massive rip-off as print book formatting isn't much harder than ebook formatting. (I guess another additional cost for print book is the back cover.)
 

Eriador117

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I use the Lulu free option for paperbacks, but the ebooks sell better. Even our non-fiction travel book, New Zealand with a Hobbit Botherer is selling better as an ebook, which surprised us. It's nice to have the option available for those people who still only read on paper, but I don't really look at it as a money-making option.
 

Old Hack

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Also, don't you get less royaltie fees for paperback books? I think to have read that ebooks get you up to 70% whereas you are stuck with 12% when publishing paperback.

I could be severely wrong on this one too. :snoopy:

The royalties on print editions are always lower than on electronic ones, especially so when digital printing is involved rather than offset. The cost of producing that print edition has to come out of the sale price, so there's proportionately less left over to share out as profit.

There definitely is a free option. I guess StarChaser paid that much for print book formatting. If so, sounds like a massive rip-off as print book formatting isn't much harder than ebook formatting. (I guess another additional cost for print book is the back cover.)

Sounds pretty expensive to me too. Although I prefer to refer to "print book formatting" as "typesetting". Heh.

(Not that what you get for your fee from most of these services is typesetting as I know it: flowing text into a template isn't typesetting, it's a mouse-click or two and not much more.)
 

merrihiatt

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Not trying to speak for Starchaser, but I think the reference is to buying paperback books from CreateSpace to sell face-to-face or from their website.

I purchased several hundred dollars worth of books recently to sell at a bazaar. Because my order was large, I saved money on shipping and was able to sell the books for $8 each and still make a $4 royalty for each book sold. If I had only ordered a few copies, the price wouldn't have been as cost effective and the royalty would have dropped considerably. I also would have had to raise the price.
 

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I've been debating the merits of paperback also since it's such a pain to reformat (especially images). I've decided to go for it since my book is non-fiction and I feel like a significant amount of non-fiction readers still prefer paperback.
 
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adrianstaccato

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I've been debating the merits of paperback also since it's such a pain to reformat (especially images). I've decided to go for it since my book is non-fiction and I feel like a significant amount of non-fiction readers still prefer paperback.

Over the holidays I will get on the Createspace bandwagon and report back. I'm excited, to say the least!
 

Katie Elle

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You might consider letting something live for awhile in the ebook format and then if it takes off, move into paper. While there are advantages to paper, if you're only moving 50 or 100 copies of an ebook, it's probably not worth spending a lot of time going into POD.
 
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