Let’s have a go at comparing some options for Print On Demand self publishing.

We’ll look at Amazon and IngramSpark which are American and FeedARead who are British.

Amazon, marketted as Kindle Direct Publishing. Wary of self publishers and the Amazon reputation, retailers can be dismissive of their books. However, Amazon is huge and it may be that most of your sales will come through them. Formatting and uploading is reasonably straightforward. No fees to pay.

Payments are into bank accounts and IBAN & swift numbers are required. American tax exemption is via an online form, if you live outside the USA and don’t want to be charged the withholding tax.

We’ll take an example of a 5”x 8” paperback with 200 pages, you set the list price at £7.99 Cost to print = £2.70 Sales channel at 40% (Amazon only) = £3.20 Your royalty = £2.09 But if you choose the expanded distribution, to retailers & wholesalers including Ingram, (see note above), the sales channel takes 60% = £4.80 and your royalties drop to 49p.

IngramSpark is the little brother of Lightning Source, both are part of Ingram who are the worlds biggest book wholesalers and distributors. If you want to get into physical bookshops, this is probably the best route to take. Formatting and uploading is tricky and it’s worth knowing your PDF technicalities before attempting. It costs $49 per title (refunded if you order 50 copies in 60 days) . They also charge for revisions, so get it right first time. They offer a large choice of trim sizes and hardback too. But they do not supply an ISBN. These can cost £89 each (or £169 for 10) but it does make you the publisher.

Payments are into bank accounts and IBAN & swift numbers are required. There are a number of American tax exemption forms to complete.

Our book will cost £2.94 to print and if we set a wholesale discount rate of 35%, we will earn £2.25. However, physical bookshops will expect 55% often on ‘sale or return’ basis. So if you want them to stock you book, then: a) You will need to convince them to order it, as with any self publishing, you must do all the marketing and promotion yourself. Ingram will just list it in their catalogue. b) Book RRP = £7.99, printing = £2.94, wholesale discount (sales channel) at 55% = £4.40, publisher compensation (royalties) = 65p If you choose to accept returns, you will also have to consider the cost to you if the books don’t sell. You will be charged the wholesale price and you decide whether to get them destroyed (free) or shipped over to you (at cost).

FeedARead is a British publisher set up with Arts Council funding in 2010 and claim to pay higher royalties than the other publishers.

Formatting and uploading is similar to Amazon. ISBN numbers are included and free. Publishing via FeedARead is free or £88 for distribution through leading booksellers.

Royalty payments to Paypal accounts only. Revisions before bookseller distribution costs £29, or £79 if after distribution.

FeedARead takes 20% of our £7.99 paperback = £1.59, the bookseller takes between 30-60% and after printing costs are deducted, it is claimed (on their website) that you will get £1.55 (presumably that’s working on 30%, which would make the printing cost = £2.45.) If it’s sold through FeedARead’s own site, then you get £3.27.

Post script. Having gone through the process with FeedARead, my 270 page book received royalties of £2.79 sold through their site and with bookseller distribution was quoted royalties of £1.01.