Who woulda thunk it? A bug — no, no, an idiosyncrasy — in Firefox drove me batty when I was working on my site update. Why wouldn’t my content line up with the sidebar? Every other browser in the known world worked properly!
See the gap between the menu and the next post/previous post links?
Google is my friend. I owe a big thank-you to people who take the effort to document these idiosyncrasies. Life is now good again.
And this image shows how the links and sidebar are supposed to line up.
At the latest meeting of Northern California Publishers & Authors (NCPA), the topic was e-books.
Stephanie Chandler discussed the current e-book market and marketing for authors. (An interesting factoid: PDF e-books are still selling strongly!)
I discussed my experience building e-books and gave out a handout explaining the steps for building an e-book based on the InDesign file for the print version of the book. While I took screenshots of the process, the handout includes just the facts, ma’am. Maybe in another blog post . . .
[NOTE: These instructions are for InDesign CS4]
Download the handout: How to Build an E-book (PDF)
I have a spreadsheet with the formulas for calculating costs of printing books at Lightning Source (LSI), CreateSpace, and Lulu. Let me show you the per-book printing cost for each:
300 pages, paperback, 5.5″ × 8.5″
$ 4.80 LSI
$ 5.10 CreateSpace Pro Plan
$ 7.00 Lulu (publisher grade paper)
$10.50 Lulu (standard paper)
650 pages, paperback, 5.5″ × 8.5″
$ 9.35 LSI
$ 9.30 CreateSpace Pro Plan
$12.25 Lulu (publisher grade paper)
$17.50 Lulu (standard paper)
Note that LSI has a setup fee per title of $75 and an annual catalog fee of $12 per title. CreateSpace’s Pro Plan has a one-time fee per title of $39, then $5 annually.
With LSI, distribution through Amazon and Ingram is automatic. You can set your discount as low as 20%.
With CreateSpace, distribution through Amazon requires a 40% discount.
With Lulu, you have to purchase one of their distribution plans for $25 or $75, or use one of their ISBNs. If you use their ISBN, they are the publisher.
Lulu also has publisher plans which offer “discounted printing, discounted shipping, discounted publishing services, preferred customer service levels, expanded site branding and more!” These plans are available for upfront fees of $2,500 or $5,000. Hmmmph.
Lulu has an online Retail Book Cost Calculator.
A 300-page paperback, size A5 (5.83″ × 8.27″), with the royalty* set at $1 and printing cost of $7.50, has a list price of $17.50. Is that price competitive with similar titles? Is $1 per book going to cover your production (less printing) costs? No? Then–oops, at $5 royalty* the list price is $27.50!
CreateSpace pricing is at CreateSpace Royalty* Calculator.
A 300-page paperback, size 5.5″ × 8.5″, listed at $17.00 on Amazon gives a royalty* of $5.75 (Pro Plan).
I have printed books through Lulu, and I was satisfied with their service and production. Lulu’s fine if you only need a dozen or so copies. But I don’t think it’s the best route for profitable publishing.
* BAH! ROYALTIES ARE FOR AUTHORS, NOT PUBLISHERS