by Louis Bertrand Shalako
c2010
All Rights Reserved
This is an editorial opinion.
A couple of weeks ago I went to a bookstore and took a look at current prices in Canada. One book was written by an fb friend, a professional and well-known writer. It was going for $18.99. With 13 % Harmonized Sales Tax, (split between federal and provincial gov'ts for my overseas feebs,) that works out to $2.47 for the tax and a total of $21.46, plus time spent and the gas you burned, and don't forget car insurance and legal stuff like that. You can either drag the kids along or pay for a sitter.
My book lists for $13.49 on Lulu.com, and to ship it by snail mail will cost $6.99 (FOB my own home,) for a total of about $20.50. You will need cable or wireless and to pay for the internet on a monthly basis. The book will take ten days to two weeks to arrive in the customer's mailbox. All it takes is a few clicks and your account number, and yes, the kids may be screaming in the background.
There is such a thing as a coupon code, and I need to learn up on that. Conceivably, people could get a small discount with the use of the coupon. It's a matter of pasting the code into a field when they go to checkout.
The price point is in my favour. The challenge is to get the word out about what a great writer I am, and then of course live up to that when someone actually buys a book for the first time. Clear descriptions and 'reasonable claims' for the book and the writer would seem to be in order.
At the risk of cutting down my own book, which I am about to do, I am still working on a better cover. A different size would bring down the price, e.g. 5x8" or 6x9", etc.
I could take what I have now, make a pdf and zip it over to a local printer, and let them worry about a one-piece cover.
Other sources whom I consider credible indicate this might cost 'x-dollars.'
If anyone complains about the price, I simply point them in the direction of my e-books, which are all over the place, and some of them are free.
What is really interesting to consider, is how much a 'Canadian-published' book would cost in a bookstore--the author I spoke of is an American. But Canadian sci-fi books were going from about $8.99 up to $9.99 and $12.99, and I saw one for $12.58.
But those books are clearly subsidized to the tune of $60 million a year to the publishing industry alone. The logging industry, which includes the pulp and paper industry, is subsidized in any number of ways as well. Another question: how many of Canada's 1500 publishers actually get a piece of the pie, or is it swallowed up by a few big houses, and do a few smaller houses get a few crumbs and keep mum about it?
Rather than rock the boat?
If they were unsubsidized, how much would the suggested retail price of their books actually be?
For an opposing opinion, see the Brantford Expositor's recent editorial, entitled, 'Canada's Publishing Industry Needs a Leg Up."
I see it as a kind of corporate welfare.
Update: See new cover at upper right.