The Players Corner Archive

The price of publishing...

I am currently working on getting a small book of poetry published. This book will consist of only 60 pages, on 5.5"x8.5" sheets, with only a few illustrations. The front and back covers of the book are in full color while in the interior is in black and white.

My publishing options are limited to:

15 copies for 399.95(+$15 S&H) (Each book costing approximately $27.66 to produce)

25 copies for 524.95(+$20 S&H) (Each bok costing approximately $21.80 to produce)

50 copies for 749.95(+$25 S&H) (Each book costing approximately $15.50 to produce)

100 copies for 1049.95(+$30 S&H) (Each book costing approximately $10.80 to produce)

My question for all of you would be, what price do you think that book would be closer to in worth? (This is the price I would sell each book for after all my charges)

A)$32.66 B)$26.80 C)$20.50 D)$15.80

Personally, I believe the price is too steep for such a small book, but it seems that the more I buy, the less the cost of each book.

Is it worth it to try and publish this book?

-Caels reg

You might want to submit just one or two poems to an established publication, such as Reader's Digest or Atlantic Monthly. If they like it, they pay you to print it - often nothing more than $20 or $50 per poem at the most.

This will establish you as a published poet, which gives you a foot in the door to publishing houses that pay advances for books. It also gives you feedback on the "worth" of your work, i.e., whether or not your poems are of interest to the general public enough to bother having them published at all. Be careful when trusting small publishing houses; sometimes the fine print tells you that they now OWN your work, and all rights to any future work.

R
reg

Well, this publisher is the Watermark Press. And thanks for the info on getting my foot in the door, I really had no idea that I could get paid for one or two poems to see if they are "worth" publishing.

------------------
-Caels
"May the tides turn in your favor." reg