Does Anyone Sell Well In Print?

[Dara England]

I'm trying to decide which way to jump on a potential new project and I need some input from authors who've made their self-pubbed books available in print via CreateSpace or someplace similar.

Here's the deal. I'm attached to an old manuscript of mine and want to rework it in a major way and self-publish it. I can't, because a publisher holds the e-rights and that contract doesn't run out for years yet. Now I actually love the publisher in question but they've never been able to move many copies of my little book, which is a shame, because it's one of my favorites. The publisher tells me I'm welcome to self-publish a print version of the book if I like, because I never signed over print rights and they have no interest in acquiring them.

So my dilemma is, can I justify taking time away from writing what sells well for me (ebooks) to rework something that'll only be available (at least for the next couple years) as a print book? With the price I'd have to put on a print version, I'm doubting I could sell it any better than my publisher was able to sell the e-version, and I'm thinking I'd be lucky to move any copies at all.

It'd help me make my decision if I knew what kinds of sales to expect for a print book. What say you? If you don't want to get specific, could anybody just tell me whether they're selling in double digits and so-on?

[Vera Nazarian]

It really depends on your book and other circumstances.

I am the publisher of Norilana Books, a paper print small press, with around 300 trade hardcover and paperback titles in print, a mixture of modern author originals, reprints, and world literature classics.

http://www.norilana.com

Paper print is I how I make my living, and I'm a Johnny-come-lately to the ebooks world. Before the economy crash in 2008, I was making 3 times what I am making now.

To answer your question, some titles sell a single copy a month, some sell hundreds. On the average, possibly the median, they sell about 1-10 books a month.

[*Sandy Harper*]

I don't think, there is black and white answer. Printed books still represent 80-90% of the market, I recall. So best is to try your best selling titles as both, IMO. Good luck!

[Krista D. Ball]

Dara - here's a couple of things to consider:

Doing a 2 for 1 combo in print (if you have lengths that work) so that the time investment won't be much different but will yield two more books for print readers to pick up.

Do you ever go to cons/plan to attend any? Print is still king when selling in person.

Do you have plans of doing local talks, library lunch-n-learns, classes, etc? If so, again, print is king.

Do you have extend family who want to read your stuff but are waiting for it come out in print?

Do you just want to have the experience?

Do you want to do a book signing nearby?

If everything is no, maybe print is unnecessary  

[shel]

Dara,  I'm really very new to self-pubbing, so please keep that in mind as you read my take on this.

I launched a CreateSpace paperback version of DOLPHIN GIRL about a month after the e-book version came out -- so the beginning of November-ish.  As of the last time I checked (like before dinner)  I'd sold 71 paperbacks.  My ebook has sold about 140 to 150 copies, so it's been roughly a 1/3 of my sales.  I also was able to do a Goodreads giveaway with the paper version, which I felt helped me to find a lot of readers and potential readers and even e-book readers. 

It could be that my paper numbers are high (relative to the e-book), because the book is YA.  Maybe that will shift post-holidays, especially if a lot of teens get readers as gifts.

The ranking data has been very interesting.  Especially since Amazon has said e-books are outselling paper and hardcover combined.  From what I can tell, there are more books selling in paper, but there are higher quantities of individual books selling as e-books. 

I was able to set my price at $9.99 for a 300 page book, which I thought was realistic for a teen and OK relative to pricing on other paperbacks for sale on Amazon.  BUT that price allows me to sell on Amazon only.  I would have needed to bump the price significantly for CreateSpace to distribute through other venues and, unfortunately, there is no option to have one price for Amazon and a higher price for all other.

Finally, it sure was good to hold that baby in my hands.  I know that's my ego talking, but still...
   

[George Berger]

Keeping in mind my overall pathetic sales numbers, paperback copies of my first novel, over the first fifteen months or so - until my first successful e-book promotion (KND) - were 25% of my sales at any given point. (They're still around 20%, to date.)

Since November this year, they've been somewhere around 40% of my total sales, which I figure is probably a seasonal thing, as folks buy copies as gifts. (Or because I've been promoting availability through The Book Depository a lot lately.)

It's perhaps worth noting that I've put as much promotional effort into the paperbacks as I have the e-book editions, and have always released the paperbacks prior to the e-books, rather than treating the paperbacks as an afterthought, as some folks seem to do.

[DRMarvello]

I just wrote about this question on my blog. Not sure if it is okay to post a link here, but here goes:
http://www.danielrmarvello.com/archive/2011/12/12/releasing-a-fiction-book-in-print-is-it-worth-doing.aspx

That article goes through the math of printing a book through both LSI and CreateSpace.

As to whether or not it is worth doing financially, I think it depends upon what kind of book you are selling. Most of the genre fiction self-pubbed authors I've heard from on the subject say that they get less than 5% of their sales from print versions of their book. I would love to get more feedback on that from the authors here.

Authors who have already been traditionally published seem to have better luck with selling print versions because they bring a fan base over from the print world. But if you are a first-time author, a $2.99 e-book is an easier sell than a $10 print book.

In general, I figure it is good to have your book available in as many formats as possible so your readers can choose the format they like best. But earning back the investment in cover design, interior layout, and setup fees for a print version may take a while.

[Rusty Bigfoot]

So far this month, I've sold over $400 in print books, which I created as a total afterthought. That's for 3 books that are also available as ebooks.

[Selina Fenech]

I sell more print books than ebooks. I think that my book is illustrated makes it more attractive to have a printed copy, but between direct amazon/createspace sales, and sales of stock I bought myself to sell, it's almost double the amount of ebooks I've sold.

[Lisa_Follett]

I intend to publish my book in print, but it will not come out until after I publish it as an ebook on Amazon. I need some more time to piddle with formatting.

[Krista D. Ball]

So far this month, I've sold over $400 in print books, which I created as a total afterthought. That's for 3 books that are also available as ebooks.

Looking at your book titles, I can 100% see why those would sell well in print!

[Rusty Bigfoot]

Yeah, print makes better fire kindling. 

[Victorine]

I sell okay in print (25-30 copies a month) if the ebook is selling really well. When ebook sales slide, I don't sell as many. (4 copes a month)

But I don't push my print books at all. I don't (on purpose) seek out for opportunities to speak and sell them in person, although people have invited me to do so, and I always say yes.

Vicki

[Krista D. Ball]

Yeah, print makes better fire kindling. 

 

[N. Gemini Sasson]

I find the longer my books are out and the more e-books I sell, the more print books I also sell. So far this year with three books and a fourth one out a little over a month ago, I've sold about 400 paperbacks (compared to 29,000 e-books, so about 1.3%). I've had a couple librarians read my books on Kindle and then request them for the libraries they worked at. Print sales have been really brisk the last few weeks, I suspect because of Christmas coming up. Wish it was this crazy-good all the time, but I have weeks like Vicki mentioned, where I sell just one or two.

If you go through Createspace, you're not out much money, just the time it takes to format it. Then you'll have something you can sign and give away. 

[Sarah Woodbury]

My numbers are similar to Gemini's, with 30,000 ebooks sold and 400+ paper copies since I started putting them out in March.  That said, there's been an uptick in paper sales such that I've sold 76 just this month.  Maybe people who enjoyed my ebooks are buying paper books to give away for Christmas?  For me, the sales are well worth the $39 pro plan fee at Createspace.

[BrianKittrell]

Well, I've sold about 9 paperbacks and 5 hardcovers of the new book since it released about 6 weeks ago, so it's about 1/3rd of the way for paying for itself in terms of setup costs. I sell less print in the UK than the US traditionally.

In the past 3 months, it's been about 300 paper books of everything. Some of my stuff remains in print though I plan to let some titles go out of print (and have removed the eBooks). Those are on a yearly rotation, so I have to wait until their time comes up to take them off of renewal.

All in all, I'm pleased that I did it. I prefer the look and feel of print books, and some other readers do, too. They're more expensive (and thus, a harder sale), but people will pick them up if the eBook is seeing some action, like Vicki said.

[Sam Landstrom]

I'd say I sell about 5% as many paper books as ebooks for my one book that's out.

I'm about to release a series of 3 interactive books as Kindle-only books and that's fine with me. That's where my readers are and so that's my priority. That and the fact that with digital, I can offer these titles at an absurdly cheap price which of course I can't do with paper.

[Andre Jute]

I'm trying to decide which way to jump on a potential new project and I need some input from authors who've made their self-pubbed books available in print via CreateSpace or someplace similar.

Here's the deal. I'm attached to an old manuscript of mine and want to rework it in a major way and self-publish it. I can't, because a publisher holds the e-rights and that contract doesn't run out for years yet. Now I actually love the publisher in question but they've never been able to move many copies of my little book, which is a shame, because it's one of my favorites. The publisher tells me I'm welcome to self-publish a print version of the book if I like, because I never signed over print rights and they have no interest in acquiring them.

So my dilemma is, can I justify taking time away from writing what sells well for me (ebooks) to rework something that'll only be available (at least for the next couple years) as a print book? With the price I'd have to put on a print version, I'm doubting I could sell it any better than my publisher was able to sell the e-version, and I'm thinking I'd be lucky to move any copies at all.

It'd help me make my decision if I knew what kinds of sales to expect for a print book. What say you? If you don't want to get specific, could anybody just tell me whether they're selling in double digits and so-on?

If it's a matter of balancing the income against the time, I wouldn't do it, Dara. I make print versions of ebooks but that's mainly to have a few available for gifts and reviews, and it doesn't take me long because the MS is edited for ebooks already, and the cover was designed from the beginning with print in mind, so that the ebook cover is cropped out of the paperback cover. Even so, the one that does best paperback just barely justifies even that little time.

The reason we pay so much attention to people whose paper copies outsell their ebooks is because it is so rare. Brian and Kat do a lot of local marketing. Do you have time for that, on top of preparing the MS?

Since you're anyway getting the e-rights back in a couple of years, this print project appears to be a non-starter for you.

[Selina Fenech]

If it's a matter of balancing the income against the time, I wouldn't do it, Dara.

If it's a matter of income vs time, a lot of us wouldn't be doing any self publishing at all, lol 

[BrianKittrell]

If it's a matter of income vs time, a lot of us wouldn't be doing any self publishing at all, lol 

Agreed. I do my print copies as a side thing just so readers have the option and so I have them if needed for anything. I don't expect to recoup the costs. I have recouped them, but I never expected to do so. My electronic editions always sell better, by about 50:1.

[ellenoc]

I'm with Andre - I wouldn't do it. I've done Create Space versions of all my books, and they've all paid for themselves. I consider not only the $39 cost of Pro Plan and the cost of proof copies but the fact the cover images have to be purchased in large sizes as costs of the paperback. The time involved in formatting the paperback and doing the cover far exceeds what's necessary for digital. I do that myself, but if you pay someone else, then it's money instead of time.

I only did a paperback version of my first book, the dog mystery, because there was a dog event I wanted to have copies for. With the first romance I didn't put out a paperback originally and got enough requests from paper-only readers I finally did it. In the two years since then more and more of my readers, even those who said they never would, have gotten Kindles or other ereaders. The newest romance has sold far fewer paper copies than the first two in spite of selling well digitally. I'm really reevaluating paperbacks of the romances from here on out.

Maybe if you're going to promote the heck out of your paperback version, but even then....

[BrianKittrell]

Maybe if you're going to promote the heck out of your paperback version, but even then....

I promote everything equally, at the same time. I just promote the book itself, without specifics to device or format, and then the reader can decide what format or ereader they want to view it on or if they want to buy it in print.

The 300 or so sales I've made in paper wouldn't have been made otherwise. Granted, it's like 300 paper books compared to 8,000 e-books, but I value every sale in and of itself. It's another person with enough faith to give me a shot at entertaining them.

[Sean Patrick Fox]

If your decision rests on potential profits, then I would leave it where it is. But if it's a baby of yours, and you really wanna see it in print, then I say go for it!

[SBJones]

Volume wise, I sell 1 print book for every ebook (one title, about to launch another).  So only 33% of my sales volume is in print.
Revenue wise I make $8 per paperback and $2 for every ebook.  So if my math is right. 88% of my revenue is in print and 12% from e-books.  These percentages are pretty close to what I have written down as money comes in.  I already have 15 people who want to buy a signed copy of the second book.  I need 60 e-book sales to match when it launches.