Here are some numbers the indies & selfpubbers who follow us might find interesting…
IngramSpark charges 3.85 per unit for the Summer Special + their BS $1.99 handling fee on top of any orders.
30% retailer discount [minimum allowable] off 14.99 SRP gives me $6.64 compensation per unit sold.
On the other hand, Amazon KDP charges 2.57 per unit.
- -I can order copies without a BS $1.99 S&H fee per order on top of already outrageous shipping costs
- -Amazon has cheaper shipping with tracking and delivery guarantees + international
The reason we wait until after the release date to send gratis copies of Cirsova to contributors who do not put in an order for additional copies is that what costs <$7 to fulfill through Amazon with tracking costs ~$11 to fulfill through IngramSpark without tracking.
Plus Amazon has cheaper, more reliable international shipping than IngramSpark.
So across about a dozen contributors per issue with several issues, it saves us a few hundred dollars per year to wait until we can fulfill gratis copies through Amazon instead of using IngramSpark.
The ability to fulfill directly and affordably through AmazonKDP prior to an Amazon go-live date would mean we could sell subscriptions through crowdfunding once again, which would be hugely beneficial.
The buried lede in this post:
The break-even on something like the Cirsova Summer Special is ~300 sold
- Content: $1150
- Art: $500
- Editing: $200
- Gratis copies: ~$100
Cirsova 