I wonder where customer expectations fit into all this, including the pressure on indie bookstores not to raise prices too much. I'm a case in point: I buy a fair number of books but find myself balking above a certain price point, especially if I'm taking a chance on a book by an author I don't know. If it's, say, an indie press book, I can sometimes buy it directly from the press at a cheaper price than I would pay at my local indie (which tries to be supportive of indie presses and authors, and which I support as much as I can). Having written a short, indie-press book, I well know that quantity does not equal quality, but even so, it can feel weird to shell out $30+ for a slender book, even though I understand (from reading this newsletter, among other things!) that books probably should cost more. Not sure where I'm going with this, just feeling sympathy for booksellers and publishers caught in the middle.
Such good points. Indie booksellers hear all the time that their customers could "just buy it on Amazon for cheaper" and that sucks. But it's also true that all brick and mortar retail suffers from this problem, so I'm not sure it's unique to bookstores. It's a brick and mortar in the digital age issue.
As for costs of books: I do think the major issue of how to price a book, in terms of COGS (cost to make the book) is page count, but prices for books don't often reflect this. This is one reason why Belt has been all about short books from the jump! We can sell them for "more" than we could if customers were used to books being priced according to length. (Our profit on a 150 page book priced at $16.95 is higher than on a 250 book priced at $16.95). Imagine going grocery shopping and paying the same amount for 20 ounces of soda as you would for 12 ounces. That's kind of how book prices work.
Finally, for those reluctant to spend too much for a book they aren't sure they will like, I say go to the library and/or read ebooks. Much cheaper! I read ebooks almost exclusively myself. Love 'em.
Since you're tipping sacred cows this week :), I'm curious (and a little nervous) to know how you feel about libraries. Do indie publishers like Belt have the same feelings about libraries as the Big 4/5? Are libraries part of your strategy?
Not at all! Libraries are our customers; Big 4/5 are our competitors. Libraries purchase our books from our distributor, or through their distributor, Baker & Taylor, to Ingram, or through Ingram directly, or other methods. Our distributor represents our books to libraries on our behalf; we also sometimes also reach out to them via email and other forms of marketing. We spend less time and money directly marketing to libraries than we do Indies.
Thanks, Anne! I was curious because some of your concerns about indies apply to public libraries too (some use Ingram and stock limited titles with broad appeal). Also, publishers and libraries aren't always friends. The Big 4/5 have been critical of publics libraries in the past (mostly because of e-book sales, I think, which may not be as big of a deal for indie publishers?). But I'd never heard anything about how indie publishers feel about public libraries. It's good to hear your take, and nice to know you market to them.
definitely! I honestly don't get the ebook thing (let's be honest: ebooks are incredibly cheap to produce, and thus should be priced accordingly!) We are happy to sell ebooks for lower than the Big 4/5 wants to keep their prices. I think an issue might be that I don't see library orders as much as I do indie ones, given that sometimes they go through B&T/Ingram and thus are more 'hidden' (I have to click like 15 screens to see which library ordered which book!)
Thank you for removing the paywall! I know next to nothing about publishing, but I do run a business, so I'm sympathetic to the realities of the bottom line. Your comments on libraries and reaching readers seem particularly relevant to me. Books are available at the library for free but I find that the library often does not have the books I find through my own research, but want to read before I purchase. So, while I'm (relatively) indifferent to the purchase price, I don't want to waste my money on a book with content I find lacking once i get it home. With respect to reaching new readers, I've turned to substack to find new reading material. I find that 70-80%of the new books at the library are what I would consider dime store novels. While I do not judge others' reading preferences, these are not my reading preferences, and I'm SURE there is a wealth of material out there that I simply can't find. I subscribed to literati for a time for my children, but got annoyed and cancelled when the quality of the content declined. I've since been searching for something similar with no luck,
This is often discussed--as well as starting a new distributor that would not sell to Amazon--but in my opinion would never be viable. The few attempts like this have failed. Also I'm not sure indie booksellers would find it advantageous to them, as it would likely be less efficient/more expensive than their current options for ordering books. Could be wrong, of course.
Should also clarify there are other distributors that are not owned by Ingram or corporate publishers (Chicago, IPG, etc.) but their numbers have shrunk over the years with consolidation
I so appreciate ALL of your newsletters and teachings. And folks may not always like hearing truths that you know and experience at Belt, but it's important to tell it- for other Indie presses, for my university students I teach who have this rainbow vision of what publishing is, and for writers out there. Bravo- keep up the good fight!
I wonder where customer expectations fit into all this, including the pressure on indie bookstores not to raise prices too much. I'm a case in point: I buy a fair number of books but find myself balking above a certain price point, especially if I'm taking a chance on a book by an author I don't know. If it's, say, an indie press book, I can sometimes buy it directly from the press at a cheaper price than I would pay at my local indie (which tries to be supportive of indie presses and authors, and which I support as much as I can). Having written a short, indie-press book, I well know that quantity does not equal quality, but even so, it can feel weird to shell out $30+ for a slender book, even though I understand (from reading this newsletter, among other things!) that books probably should cost more. Not sure where I'm going with this, just feeling sympathy for booksellers and publishers caught in the middle.
Such good points. Indie booksellers hear all the time that their customers could "just buy it on Amazon for cheaper" and that sucks. But it's also true that all brick and mortar retail suffers from this problem, so I'm not sure it's unique to bookstores. It's a brick and mortar in the digital age issue.
As for costs of books: I do think the major issue of how to price a book, in terms of COGS (cost to make the book) is page count, but prices for books don't often reflect this. This is one reason why Belt has been all about short books from the jump! We can sell them for "more" than we could if customers were used to books being priced according to length. (Our profit on a 150 page book priced at $16.95 is higher than on a 250 book priced at $16.95). Imagine going grocery shopping and paying the same amount for 20 ounces of soda as you would for 12 ounces. That's kind of how book prices work.
Finally, for those reluctant to spend too much for a book they aren't sure they will like, I say go to the library and/or read ebooks. Much cheaper! I read ebooks almost exclusively myself. Love 'em.
Since you're tipping sacred cows this week :), I'm curious (and a little nervous) to know how you feel about libraries. Do indie publishers like Belt have the same feelings about libraries as the Big 4/5? Are libraries part of your strategy?
Not at all! Libraries are our customers; Big 4/5 are our competitors. Libraries purchase our books from our distributor, or through their distributor, Baker & Taylor, to Ingram, or through Ingram directly, or other methods. Our distributor represents our books to libraries on our behalf; we also sometimes also reach out to them via email and other forms of marketing. We spend less time and money directly marketing to libraries than we do Indies.
Thanks, Anne! I was curious because some of your concerns about indies apply to public libraries too (some use Ingram and stock limited titles with broad appeal). Also, publishers and libraries aren't always friends. The Big 4/5 have been critical of publics libraries in the past (mostly because of e-book sales, I think, which may not be as big of a deal for indie publishers?). But I'd never heard anything about how indie publishers feel about public libraries. It's good to hear your take, and nice to know you market to them.
definitely! I honestly don't get the ebook thing (let's be honest: ebooks are incredibly cheap to produce, and thus should be priced accordingly!) We are happy to sell ebooks for lower than the Big 4/5 wants to keep their prices. I think an issue might be that I don't see library orders as much as I do indie ones, given that sometimes they go through B&T/Ingram and thus are more 'hidden' (I have to click like 15 screens to see which library ordered which book!)
Thank you for removing the paywall! I know next to nothing about publishing, but I do run a business, so I'm sympathetic to the realities of the bottom line. Your comments on libraries and reaching readers seem particularly relevant to me. Books are available at the library for free but I find that the library often does not have the books I find through my own research, but want to read before I purchase. So, while I'm (relatively) indifferent to the purchase price, I don't want to waste my money on a book with content I find lacking once i get it home. With respect to reaching new readers, I've turned to substack to find new reading material. I find that 70-80%of the new books at the library are what I would consider dime store novels. While I do not judge others' reading preferences, these are not my reading preferences, and I'm SURE there is a wealth of material out there that I simply can't find. I subscribed to literati for a time for my children, but got annoyed and cancelled when the quality of the content declined. I've since been searching for something similar with no luck,
Keep up the good work!
Why don’t indie publishers and indie bookstores band together to create a cooperative distributor, as an alternative/competitor to Ingram?
This is often discussed--as well as starting a new distributor that would not sell to Amazon--but in my opinion would never be viable. The few attempts like this have failed. Also I'm not sure indie booksellers would find it advantageous to them, as it would likely be less efficient/more expensive than their current options for ordering books. Could be wrong, of course.
Should also clarify there are other distributors that are not owned by Ingram or corporate publishers (Chicago, IPG, etc.) but their numbers have shrunk over the years with consolidation
I so appreciate ALL of your newsletters and teachings. And folks may not always like hearing truths that you know and experience at Belt, but it's important to tell it- for other Indie presses, for my university students I teach who have this rainbow vision of what publishing is, and for writers out there. Bravo- keep up the good fight!