For those who have been following my comparison of the two companies, CreateSpace and Lightning Source, the experiment has been put on hold until my next book. Simply stated, it makes more sense to use CreateSpace to self-publish The Game of Basketball than it does to use LSI.
The reasons are simple, at least to me. The first is LSI is dragging its feet setting up my account. I have no doubt that LSI will eventually get it done, the problem is the month of March is fast approaching. I really want the book ready to go so I can tie in my early promotional efforts with the annual March Madness of the NCAA basketball tournament and the all the various state tournaments for high school basketball. I know how long it will take from start to finish to get the book listed on Amazon with CreateSpace and time has run out in my mind for me to be able to use LSI to get the book to printed, distributed and to market in time.
My sole reason for wanting to use LSI instead of CreateSpace is the ability to set a short discount. By using LSI as the POD printer and distributor I can make more per copy for sales on Amazon than I can using CreateSpace. Since Amazon owns CreateSpace, Amazon controls the discount the author sets for the book.
The difference winds up being a little over $1 per sale on Amazon. That $1 can add up pretty quickly with a lot of sales on Amazon. CreateSpace will provide me with a lower per copy price than LSI will, both for wholesale distribution and sales to the publisher. This is an issue for me.
Because most of my books are written for basketball coaches, I sell books to specialty retailers whose market is made up of coaches. The lower per copy price allows me to make more money from that source of sales. I sell books at coaching clinics I speak at and direct sales are more profitable with lower per copy pricing.
Finally, this particular book, The Game of Basketball, is meant for players as well as coaches. Part of my marketing strategy is for coaches to be able to use this book as a textbook of sorts for their players, to help the players understand the game on a mental level and to learn about the finer points, the intangibles of the game, that will make them a better player. I plan to offer heavily discounted pricing for bulk orders for teams. Thus the need once again for the lowest possible price per copy. CreateSpace wins again.
I am willing to make less money on Amazon on each sale because I will make more money on other important sources of sales. I also want to launch the book with the onset of March Madness. Even Aaron Shepard says not every book is well suited for being printed and distributed by LSI.
I do plan on using LSI for my next book that I am working on. So the experiment will be completed then and I will update my findings on using the two companies at that time.
Some more analysis (that may apply to more mainstream books but not to yours):
ReplyDeleteAssume a 300-pg paperback with a $19.95 cover price.
The cost to the publisher for LS to print a book and ship it to a bookseller's customer is $5.40.
Amazon, B&N, Target, etc. keep 20% of the $19.95, or $3.99.
The bookseller pays 15.96 to Lightning.
Lightning deducts the $5.40 cost of printing and shipping, and then pays $10.56 to the publisher (over 50% of the cover price).
Using the 300-page/$19.95 example, the numbers favor Lightning over CreteSpace(except for probably insignificant "eStore" sales).
Using the better CS "Pro Plan," sales on Amazon.com earn $7.52 for the publisher and sales through "Expanded Distribution" (e.g.,B&N) earn just $3.53.
So, using Lightning instead CS, the publisher makes either $3.04 or $7.03 more per book -- a lot more than a $1 difference.
Since the prep work is the probably same and LS provides broader distribution and higher income, I just don't see any point in using CS.
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One other analysis: On a sale of a 300-pg book to B&N, LS keeps just $5.40, but CS keeps $16.42!
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And finally, CS says that with its Expanded Distribution plan, it can take six weeks until bookselllers are aware of a book or a change. I don't know if CS is being conservative, but with LS, it's just a couple of days.
Michael N. Marcus
-- president of the Independent Self-Publishers Alliance, http://www.independentselfpublishers.org
-- author of "Become a Real Self-Publisher: Don’t be a Victim of a Vanity Press," http://www.amazon.com/dp/0981661742
-- author of "Stories I'd Tell My Children (but maybe not until they're adults)," coming 4/1/10. http://www.silversandsbooks.com/storiesbookinfo.html
-- http://BookMakingBlog.blogspot.com
-- http://www.SilverSandsBooks.com
Michael,
ReplyDeleteAll of your points are right on the money.
But, in this case there are some important differences.
The book is 240 pages long and will cost me $3.73 per copy regardless of whether the book is sold on Amazon, to a wholesaler or by me direct to a customer.
The information LSI has sent to me to calculate pricing per copy indicates the price for one copy sold on Amazon will be $4.02. The savings per copy using CS is lost in the higher discount Amazon will take by publishing with CS.
The price per copy for a book sold to a wholesale distributor for this book will be $4.50. This is an issue since a large portion of the sales of this book will be to distributors who sell books, DVDs, etc. to coaches and will be a significant source of initial sales.
The price per copy for me if I purchase copies directly will also be $4.50. Since my marketing plan includes selling this book to coaches in bulk orders for them to use as an instructional tool, the price difference adds up quickly.
Since I expect the bulk of the sales of this book to either be direct or through retailers to coaches, I am willing to make less money from sales on Amazon but not through my other sources of sales.
If the primary source of sales for this book was to be from Amazon, I would be using LSI.
I hope this clarifies my original post.
Thanks for providing additional information to the readers of this site.
Kevin, there's really no need for an either/or. If you just need copies now to sell, you can set that up at CreateSpace without releasing the book for sale to Amazon. Then you can use Lightning for the Amazon sales when you get set up there.
ReplyDeletePoint well taken. The problem is LSI is still dragging its feet on approving my account. I need both Amazon and other means of sales to be available for March.
ReplyDeleteI can sort it out in April or May if necessary.
Thank you for the post.