How to Price Your Self-Published Book
Understand the factors that determine your book's retail price, trade discount, and author profit so you can make informed pricing decisions for your published book.
Understanding Your Book's Pricing
Outskirts Press allows you, as the author, to set your book's retail price. Three important elements work together when determining your book pricing: Trade Discount, Retail Price, and Author Profit.
These elements are interconnected, and your book's final page count also affects its pricing. Understanding how they work together can help you decide which pricing factor is most important for your publishing goals.
Your Publishing Consultant can help you understand the relationship between retail price, trade discount, production cost, and author profit.
What Determines Your Book Pricing?
Trade discount, retail price, and author profit work together. Adjusting one can affect the others.
Trade Discount
The amount of discount from your retail price that is offered to wholesalers and retailers for handling and selling your book.
More About Trade Discount
What Does Trade Discount Mean?
Trade Discount is the percentage of your book's Retail Price offered to wholesalers, distributors, and retailers for handling and selling your book. At Outskirts Press, you choose a Trade Discount between 40% and 55%.
Outskirts Press is not part of the "trade".
How Do You Choose a Trade Discount?
Your choice depends on your distribution goals. 40% is the minimum for distribution, while 55% provides the greatest incentive to wholesalers and retailers and is strongly recommended if you plan to pursue brick-and-mortar bookstore placement.
For bookstore placement, we recommend a 55% Trade Discount plus the Retail/Bookstore Returns Program. Together, these provide bookstores with a competitive retail margin and the ability to return unsold copies. They do not guarantee bookstore placement.
If you're primarily focused on online retailers, a 40% or 50% Trade Discount may be sufficient.
Trade Discount also affects your Retail Price and Author Profit. A higher discount can require a higher Retail Price, while a lower discount may limit some distribution opportunities.
Important: A Trade Discount below 50% requires a Trade Discount Acknowledgment form.
Returns are available only in the U.S. and Canada and do not apply to purchases through the Outskirts Press bookstore.
Retail Price
The price you suggest retailers use when offering your book for sale to readers. Your retail price must be high enough to accommodate the book's production and distribution costs.
More About Retail Price
How is Your Retail Price Determined?
Outskirts Press gives you control over your book's Retail Price. Your minimum price is calculated based on factors including Trade Discount, final page count, and trim size.
We’ll recommend an appropriate Retail Price, but you can adjust it above the required minimum using our pricing calculator and see how your choices affect your Author Profit.
Pricing Tip: A higher Retail Price can increase your profit per book, but your price should remain competitive for your genre, format, audience, and market.
Author Profit
The amount you earn each time a new copy of your book is sold through distribution.
More About Author Profit
What is Author Profit?
Author Profit, sometimes called a royalty, is the amount you earn each time a new copy of your book is sold through wholesale or retail distribution channels.
Your Author Profit is determined by your book's Retail Price, Trade Discount, and production cost. Because these factors work together, adjusting one can change how much you earn from each sale.
Your Book's Final Page Count Affects its Price
Final pricing cannot be determined until your book's finished page count is known. Three manuscript and design choices help determine that page count.
Trim Size
The physical dimensions of your finished book influence how much content fits on each page.
Page Layout
Typography, margins, spacing, images, and other design choices affect how your manuscript flows across the pages.
Word Count
The amount of content in your manuscript is one of the primary factors determining the final length of your book.
Set a Price That Supports Your Publishing Goals
Outskirts Press gives you control over important book pricing decisions, allowing you to balance retail price, trade discount, and author profit based on your priorities.
As a general guideline, a reasonable author profit may be approximately $1–$2 per book for fiction and full-color books and $2–$3 per book for nonfiction books. Your ideal pricing strategy may vary depending on your book, audience, distribution goals, and competitive market.
Price Your Book with Distribution in Mind
Print-on-demand distribution gives authors the convenience of producing books as they are ordered, without maintaining a large inventory of printed books.
Authors who want to pursue placement with physical booksellers can also explore our Retail Returns Program, which makes eligible books returnable for a full year.
Explore the Retail Returns ProgramOne Publishing Team
With book production, publication, distribution, and marketing services available through Outskirts Press, your publishing team can help you consider pricing as part of your overall publishing strategy.
Not Sure How to Price Your Book?
Talk with a Publishing Consultant about your manuscript, publishing goals, distribution strategy, and the factors that will influence your book's final pricing.
Schedule a Free Publishing Consultation