120 copies of Hardback Elantris

[stacer]

Yes and no. I would say he's just saying he's providing a service to his readers, and not in the bookselling business. An author doesn't want to get in the practice of competing with booksellers--they are their main support at the selling end, and most authors love the part that booksellers do--so to price them in a way that makes it both worth your time and doesn't compete with bookstores is a fine balance to find.

[Spriggan]

Also there is overhead involved, not just buying the books but to handle orders we pay a certain percentage to pay pal for each order so we don't have to have our own shopping cart.  It's not a lot, but even at $15 a book EUOL isn't making as much as people might think (though it's still a fair amount).

[Phaz]

Also there is overhead involved, not just buying the books but to handle orders we pay a certain percentage to pay pal for each order so we don't have to have our own shopping cart.  It's not a lot, but even at $15 a book EUOL isn't making as much as people might think (though it's still a fair amount).

If you aren't yet 100% attached to paypal, you might look at Google Checkout.

It's fairly easy to set up for websites (should be really easy with just one product like this).  It's also free to use through 2007 (no % paid from processing payment on either end), and cheaper than most alternatives after that.

[Spriggan]

No one uses Google checkout, people just don't like it, so it would be a bad business decision to use an online pay system that's unpopular.  It's also got only a 6% market share and that's probably not going to be growing much in the near future.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070119-8661.html

[Bookstore Guy]

the last post has a good point.  this happen a lot in the minds of buyers.  To be honest, I would just sell it at a 15-20% discount.  That is the local discount rate that many bookstores carry.  You can say this is the author discount.  Since there books are signed and personalized, they ARE collectors items in the mind of most readers. 

In bookstores, signed copies often mean that a person is willing to pony-up the extra cash for a HB.  When I worked at Waldens, I could easily sell a signed HB over and unsigned PB. 

Another point to consider is the number of copies you have.  Its only 120, which means you didnt invest a ton to get them.  I would calulate a break-even point at different prices.  I mean, really, its not difficult to sell 120 signed/personalized copies of a book.  And if they sell slower, so what?  I don't think your next months mortgage payment is relying on these books. 

If readers want a premium product, they pay a premium price.   Take, for example PS Publishing - http://www.pspublishing.co.uk/ - now, im not saying you should sell you books for the price these guys are, but its a good example of how people are willing to pay for collectors/signed editions of novels.  By providing the fans with a method of gaining a signed copy, you ARE helping the fans.  You dont have to sell the books at cost to achieve this.

As far as bookplates go, I think you should offer it once your 120 HBs are sold out.