Choosing Book Printing Quantity: Avoid Common Mistakes
Making the right decision about how many books to print is a major factor in determining how profitable your venture will be. Even experienced publishers guess wrong at times. If you don’t print enough books, you run into supply problems, possibly some angry customers, and the increased cost of reprints. If you print too many books well, that is an obvious problem as well. So how many books should you print?
Unfortunately, if there is a secret formula, I don’t know it. However, after nearly 15 years in the publishing industry, I can tell you my experience. More often than not, publishers are overly optimistic about how many books they will sell. So be careful – don’t get stuck with a garage full of books.
Compare your worst-case and best-case scenarios. Do you have marketing channels in place that convince you that in your worst-case scenario you are sure to sell 100? 500? 5,000 books? What’s your optimistic guess as to how many books you will sell? Now I’m not talking about the scenario where Hollywood options your book for a movie – let’s stay realistic.
Now compare the numbers and choose something in-between, but probably closer to the lower side. Again, the cons of printing too few books usually heavily outweigh the cons of printing too many.
Which type of printing press should you use? You’ll basically need to choose between a digital press or an offset press. (There are other types of printing presses, but these are the main two options.)
A digital press is usually most cost effective for print runs less than 1,000. If you decide to go with a digital printer, you definitely want to lean toward a smaller quantity. The cost savings per book for 100 copies vs. 500 copies on a digital press just aren’t that great usually.
An offset press is better suited for quantities of at least 1,000. In this case, there can be some heavy quantity discounts. If you’re still debating on your quantity, comparing the cost per book numbers between quantities may help make your decision easier. In any case, be sure to ask your printer for quotes for a number of different quantities. Hey, if Oprah does call, at least you’ll be ready!
In other words: start small, but don’t be afraid to dream big! Keep working at it, and with a little luck and a lot of perseverance you’ll eventually start hitting those larger print runs.
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