How to use the ROI calculator
If you choose to proceed with a print on demand publication package (Options 7-11), then you do not need to pay any further costs for printing, therefore your profit for each book sold will be the value shown in the pink cell H23 (for sales via KDP).
If you choose to proceed with a hybrid publication package (Options 2-6), then the cost of printing is additional to the publication package. These costs depend on the size of the print run and this is shown in row 40. Therefore, your profit depends on your selling strategy - this could be selling exclusively via author copies or a combination of selling via sales agencies and the distributor etc.
Here are some instructions on how to use the attached ROI calculator:
You will see that, the larger the print run, the lower the unit cost becomes. This is why, at some RRPs, different size print runs may be profitable and different print runs may mean you lose money, so be careful of this!
Option A is used to indicate what profit might be obtained if you sold ALL copies in your print run as author copies (and the copies were delivered to one location) and NO copies were sent to the distributor. This will show in row 60 in the pink cell.
Option B is used to indicate what profit might be obtained if you sold X quantity of copies as author copies and X quantity of copies via the distributor, but without the sales agencies involved. This strategy would be if you are looking to approach physical bookshops yourself and/or the sales agencies do not accept to represent your title. Row 69 will then indicate the profit obtained from selling all copies in your print run via both of these methods, after the cost of printing and split delivery has been deducted.
For Option C, which shows how much profit can be obtained from selling some copies as author copies and some via the distributor (but when the sales agencies are involved), the calculator has been created to use the same quantities that you have inputted into rows 63 and 66. This is because the only difference with Option C is that the sales agencies take a percentage of the earnings for their work in representing the title to the retailers. The pink cell in C78 will show you the profit of selling copies if you are using the distributor and the sales agency.
There are many strategies to book selling and there is no right or wrong way of doing it. This calculator will hopefully help you think about what marketing strategies you want to use and you can discuss this further with your Marketing Advisor Team via the free Marketing and Aftercare Service. You are likely to see a quicker ROI on your costs, by selling as many author copies as you can to friends, family and contacts, at least in your first print run, as there are no retailer discounts and you keep 100% of the royalties. A lot of authors try and do this initially to try and recoup the costs of publication, as well as the initial print run, as then subsequent print runs can ensure pure profit.
If opting for a package that includes eBook format, you will have the added advantage of a format that requires no print costs and, once converted, can be sold indefinitely in high volumes. When selling an eBook, there are also additional revenue streams such as KENP (Kindle Edition Normalised Pages), where you will receive royalties for the number of pages that has been read by users of Kindle Unlimited. We have not taken this into account in the ROI calculator, but it's worth being aware of this additional form of income.
It is important to note that, the larger the print run, the lower the unit cost of printing, therefore it is more cost-effective to print one larger print run than lots of smaller ones. It is also possible to reduce the unit cost by using different specifications (paper stock, cover lamination), reducing the page count and, if traditional printing, higher quantities of print runs.
If you choose to proceed with a hybrid publication package (Options 2-6), then the cost of printing is additional to the publication package. These costs depend on the size of the print run and this is shown in row 40. Therefore, your profit depends on your selling strategy - this could be selling exclusively via author copies or a combination of selling via sales agencies and the distributor etc.
Here are some instructions on how to use the attached ROI calculator:
- Row 9 - in the green cell, you can play around with changing the RRP of the book to see what difference it makes to your potential profit. We have pre-filled it with an RRP, so that it shows the calculator working.
- Row 10 - in the green cell, you can play around with changing the eBook RRP. Royalties from each eBook sale shows in the pink cell in cell K21.
- Row 40 – Total Author Costs – this row is what we have populated with estimated prices, if your book was printed traditionally. Do not change the value in any of these cells!
- Rows 45 and 49 - show royalties from each sale of the book, if printed traditionally. If you are proceeding to use the distributor only, please refer to row 45. If you are using the distributor and sales agencies, refer to row 49.
You will see that, the larger the print run, the lower the unit cost becomes. This is why, at some RRPs, different size print runs may be profitable and different print runs may mean you lose money, so be careful of this!
- Row 53 – Enter cost of printing – in this green cell, you should input whatever price is showing in row 40 for the quantity of copies you may wish to print.
- Row 55 - this shows the total cost of what it would cost for you to have a print run with a split delivery to two locations (i.e. X amount of copies to the distributor and X amount to yourself as author copies, which can be sold to friends and family etc).
- Row 58 – Author copies quantity – in this green cell, enter the quantity for the price that you entered in the cell in row 53. For example, this might be 700 (if the print run you might wish to proceed with is 700 copies).
Option A is used to indicate what profit might be obtained if you sold ALL copies in your print run as author copies (and the copies were delivered to one location) and NO copies were sent to the distributor. This will show in row 60 in the pink cell.
- Row 63 – Author copies quantity – in this green cell, type in how many author copies you might like which would be delivered to yourself. Row 64 will indicate how much revenue will be made from selling those as author copies.
- Row 66 – Distributor quantity – in this green cell, type in how many author copies you might like delivered to the distributor. It is important to note that when you add the value you have inputted in this cell to the value you have inputted in the cell in row 63, this MUST add up to the total copies you are looking to print! For example, if opting for a print run of 700 copies, you may have entered 350 copies into row 63 and 350 copies into row 66.
Option B is used to indicate what profit might be obtained if you sold X quantity of copies as author copies and X quantity of copies via the distributor, but without the sales agencies involved. This strategy would be if you are looking to approach physical bookshops yourself and/or the sales agencies do not accept to represent your title. Row 69 will then indicate the profit obtained from selling all copies in your print run via both of these methods, after the cost of printing and split delivery has been deducted.
For Option C, which shows how much profit can be obtained from selling some copies as author copies and some via the distributor (but when the sales agencies are involved), the calculator has been created to use the same quantities that you have inputted into rows 63 and 66. This is because the only difference with Option C is that the sales agencies take a percentage of the earnings for their work in representing the title to the retailers. The pink cell in C78 will show you the profit of selling copies if you are using the distributor and the sales agency.
There are many strategies to book selling and there is no right or wrong way of doing it. This calculator will hopefully help you think about what marketing strategies you want to use and you can discuss this further with your Marketing Advisor Team via the free Marketing and Aftercare Service. You are likely to see a quicker ROI on your costs, by selling as many author copies as you can to friends, family and contacts, at least in your first print run, as there are no retailer discounts and you keep 100% of the royalties. A lot of authors try and do this initially to try and recoup the costs of publication, as well as the initial print run, as then subsequent print runs can ensure pure profit.
If opting for a package that includes eBook format, you will have the added advantage of a format that requires no print costs and, once converted, can be sold indefinitely in high volumes. When selling an eBook, there are also additional revenue streams such as KENP (Kindle Edition Normalised Pages), where you will receive royalties for the number of pages that has been read by users of Kindle Unlimited. We have not taken this into account in the ROI calculator, but it's worth being aware of this additional form of income.
It is important to note that, the larger the print run, the lower the unit cost of printing, therefore it is more cost-effective to print one larger print run than lots of smaller ones. It is also possible to reduce the unit cost by using different specifications (paper stock, cover lamination), reducing the page count and, if traditional printing, higher quantities of print runs.
