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technical:cost [2009/12/21 03:17] administrator |
technical:cost [2010/05/06 07:47] (current) administrator |
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| ====== The price of a free book ====== | ====== The price of a free book ====== | ||
| - | This book is free, but that doesn't mean it's cheap. While I offer you a complete free ebook with the only restriction that you can't print it at full quality (because if you're going to print it, that's going to cost you quite a bit of money, so why not buy a proper copy instead for, basically, LESS MONEY, and enjoy the text in decent quality instead of scaled down bitmapped fonts), it still costs me an actually fairly hefty amount to offer you this book legally. | + | This book is free, but that doesn't mean it's cheap. While I offer you a complete free ebook with the only restriction that you can't print it at full quality (because if you're going to print it, that's going to cost you quite a bit of money, so why not [[:start#buy_a_paper_copy_of_the_book|buy a proper copy instead for, basically, LESS MONEY]], and enjoy the text in decent quality instead of scaled down bitmapped fonts), it still costs me an actually fairly hefty amount to offer you this book legally. |
| In order to be on the legal side of town, the fonts used in the book need proper licenses, and in order to get you printed paper copies, I need to be registered as a business, just so the book can be be turned into a purchasable product. | In order to be on the legal side of town, the fonts used in the book need proper licenses, and in order to get you printed paper copies, I need to be registered as a business, just so the book can be be turned into a purchasable product. | ||
| ===== Where are the costs ===== | ===== Where are the costs ===== | ||
| - | So, "what does it cost to make a book?", well here's the rundown: | + | So, "what does it cost to make a book?" Well, here's the rundown: |
| - Font licenses: lots. But you can drive down the price by buying products that have the font bundled in a way that allows commercial use. As such: | - Font licenses: lots. But you can drive down the price by buying products that have the font bundled in a way that allows commercial use. As such: | ||
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| - Windows Vista, for the Palatino Linotype font family (€700 on its own): €80 | - Windows Vista, for the Palatino Linotype font family (€700 on its own): €80 | ||
| - Acrobat 8, for PDF administration: €170 | - Acrobat 8, for PDF administration: €170 | ||
| - | - Test copies for proofing: €100 | + | - Test copies for proofing: €200 |
| - Business registration: €50 per year | - Business registration: €50 per year | ||
| - Publisher registration: €60 per year | - Publisher registration: €60 per year | ||
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| First off, yes, fonts are ridiculously expensive if you buy them on a "per font" basis. Find out which products come with the fonts you want to use and then buy those, instead. | First off, yes, fonts are ridiculously expensive if you buy them on a "per font" basis. Find out which products come with the fonts you want to use and then buy those, instead. | ||
| - | Adding everything up we come at €1038 for required technologies and publication setup (which excludes the cost of the printers), which is just shy of $1550 (US). | + | Adding everything up we come at just under €1150 for required technologies and publication setup (which excludes the cost of the printers), which is just shy of $1550 (US). |
| That's a lot of money for a free book! | That's a lot of money for a free book! | ||
| Of course, this also doesn't include the rather ridiculous concept of "virtual cost" expressed in hours I worked on this book, rather than my normal job (I work 80% so that I have three days to work on my own projects per week). This is a pointless number, and I won't bore you with it, but of course it does factor in to the final "was it worth it?" question. I consider the fact that there is a free book for you to use an affirmative answer to that question, but it would be foolish to ignore the finances. | Of course, this also doesn't include the rather ridiculous concept of "virtual cost" expressed in hours I worked on this book, rather than my normal job (I work 80% so that I have three days to work on my own projects per week). This is a pointless number, and I won't bore you with it, but of course it does factor in to the final "was it worth it?" question. I consider the fact that there is a free book for you to use an affirmative answer to that question, but it would be foolish to ignore the finances. | ||
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| ===== Sales ===== | ===== Sales ===== | ||
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| I don't think I can get more fair than that really. So back to pricing, what does this mean in terms of required sales? | I don't think I can get more fair than that really. So back to pricing, what does this mean in terms of required sales? | ||
| - | For every book printed, about $5 per book goes to the printer, so my income per book is around $25, of which 35% goes to taxes (I live in the Netherlands. I am fine with our tax scheme, because it works. Remember that a percentage doesn't mean anything, it's about what's left after taxes and whether it assures a certain standard of living. Given that we're one of the most prosperous countries in the world, I'd say our tax scheme is fine =). | + | For every book printed, about $10 per book goes to the printer (print-on-demand short runs are more expensive than offset printing, but they do let people order batches of 100, 10 or even 1, rather than offset printing's 5000 or 10000). Retail gets a 25% to 33% wholesale discount, so depending on how many books they order, that leaves me with 7 to 5 euro "profit" per book. Then taxes takes away about 35% of that, and I'm left with about 5 to 3 euro income per book. That's not a lot, especially when you take into account that I need to recover the initial 1150ish euro investment. |
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| + | So, in order to cover the cost of even offering the world the free book, I need to actually sell 200 copies of the not-free book. | ||
| - | Anyway, 35% off for income taxes leaves roughly $16 per book, or about €11. In order to just cover the costs of offering you a **free** book, I need to **sell** at least 95 books before I've broken even. | + | In order to actually make a profit, things get a more interesting, because I have a student loan that needs paying off. As such, while anything over the initial 200 books might be considered profit, I don't see any of that money unless sales exceed 300 euro per month, which is what I'll be paying per month for the next fifteen years to clear my student loan. I'll let you do the math, but it comes out to "a lot of money". |
| - | In order to actually make a profit, things get a more interesting, because I have a student loan that needs paying off. As such, while anything over the initial 95 books might be considered profit, I don't see any of that money unless sales exceed 300 euro per month, which is what I'll be paying per month for the next fifteen years to clear my student loan. I'll let you do the math, but it comes out to ";a lot of money". | + | This means that after those 200 copies, ideally I'd sell over 60 copies a month to cover my student loan payments. I have no idea how many copies will actually sell. I've seen some figures by other niche-market publishers and between 100 and 200 books a month seems a decent guess, but ultimately just that; a guess. I hope this book sells well =) |
| - | This means that after those 95 copies, ideally I'd sell over 28 copies a month to cover my student loan payments. I have no idea how many copies will actually sell. I've seen some figures by other niche-market publishers and between 100 and 200 books a month seems a decent guess, but ultimately just that; a guess. I hope this book sells =) | + | And yes, I know I ask you to donate a little if you like the book, but I don't expect any income from donations. I've had the option to donate to NR for years, and the reality is that I can count the number of donations I get per year on two hands. It's not a form of income in any way, it just covers the server costs, basically. |
| - | And yes, I know I ask you to donate a little if you like the book, but I don't expect any income from donations. I've had the option to donate to NR for years, and the reality is that I can count the number of donations I get per year on two hands. It's not a form of income in any way, it just covers the server costs basically. Don't get me wrong, I am eternally grateful for every donation I receive, because I know how much brain justification goes into the decision to send someone your money as a token of appreciation, rather than as a payment for something. Which is why not a lot of people do it. | + | Don't get me wrong, I am eternally grateful for every donation I receive, because I know how much brain justification goes into the decision to send someone your money as a token of appreciation, rather than as a payment for something. Which is why not a lot of people do it. |
| - | Anyway: you don't generate income by hoping, you need to have something to offer in return, and for that, there will now be this book. Coming to a bookstore near you, soon (one business registration is finalised and the POD printers start running), or otherwise there's always online retailers. | + | Anyway: you don't generate income by hoping, you need to have something to offer in return, and for that, there will now be this book. [[:start#buy_a_paper_copy_of_the_book|Sold at a bookstore near you]]! |
| - Mike "Pomax" Kamermans | - Mike "Pomax" Kamermans | ||