How We Work
TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT WITH BEDFORD FALLS PUBLISHNG
My initial fee.
I will take your original work (including any illustrations) and process it into a suitable format for printing
including the front matter, index, illustrations, header and page numbering £100
Additional work if required, depending on the form in which the work is provided to me,
e.g additional work will be required if content has to be typed up from a handwritten manuscript,
or if difficulties arise with formatting your document. Up to an additional £100
ISBN and barcode if required. (This will be necessary if you intend to sell via retail outlets.) £50
Cost of printing including initial set-up and delivery charge. This depends on a number of factors.
Size of book; number of pages; hard or soft cover; shrink wrapping; colour pages; etc. £??
On delivery I take a few of the books (by agreement, depending on the type of book.) to sell for myself to sell via events and my website and pass on the remainder to you.
By agreement I might take a number of books to sell on your behalf through the website. This is known as 'fulfilment'. Sales via the website will be credited to you. (P&P cost is borne by the customer)
You receive the remainder of the books to sell at the rate agreed on publication. All proceeds from these sales remain with you. Should you need a re-print, additional copies will always be cheaper per copy than the first run. This will be advised to you at the time of the initial order.
Here are a couple of examples to show how it works in practice.
John has a book of 130 pages. It's A5 size; it has no illustrations and it is black and white throughout. It has a soft back and 80-gsm paper throughout. he has 100 copies printed. I format the work for him, and there are no difficulties. Everything goes well and he takes delivery of the books.
He pays for my formatting and set-up time -£100
He buys an ISBN number and barcode for the book -£50
The printing and delivery costs come to £340 (£3.40 per copy) -£340
Total payable, in advance -£490
We agree a selling price of £11.99
He covers his costs with the sales of 41 books
The remaining 59 books realise a clear profit of £707
He prints a second run of 100 books which cost just £2.26 each -£226
and he sells these for £1199 making a profit of £973
Total return for 2 print runs of 100 copies sold £1680
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Janet has a book of poetry and watercolour drawings.
It is just 80 pages long but it is A4 size, in landscape orientation.
It is printed completely in colour on 115gsm gloss paper
and with a hard back.
It has a paper dustjacket and a ribbon to mark pages.
She pays for my formatting and set-up time -£100
She buys an ISBN number and barcode for the book -£50
The printing and delivery costs come to £1175 (£11.75 per copy) -£1175
Total payable, in advance -£1325
We agree a selling price of £22.99
Janet keeps covers her costs with the sales of 57 books
The remaining 33 books realise a clear profit of £758
She prints a second run of 100 books which cost just £10.50 each -£1050
She sells them for £2199 making a profit of £1149
Total return for 2 print runs of 100 copies sold £1907
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HOW OTHER PUBLISHERS WORK
Royalty rates vary slightly, but on average, you can expect the following from traditional publishers:
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Hardcover sales: 15% (i.e. publisher takes 85%)
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Paperback sales: 5% (i.e. publisher takes 95%)
Some contacts include graduated royalties. For example, you might earn 10% on the first 5,000 hardcover copies sold, 12% on the next 5,000, and 15% on every copy thereafter.