(If any of you have difficulty downloading or reading this I have put
a PDF version (POD_Description_R2) on the AISBoard website.
http://www.aisboard.org/aisdocs/
Over the past several years the subject of Print On Demand has come
up in relation to the various AIS publications we provide.
I decided to do some research on the subject and in conjunction with
some pricing that Jody Nolin did and in consultation with Mike Lowe
and Judy Keisling, I would like to present the following for
discussion. I am not at this time making a motion but rather want to
make sure that we have ample time to vet the issue.
I open this discussion in regards to printing the 2009 Checklist but
the same could apply to almost everything we print.
______________
Print On Demand (POD), sometimes called publish on demand, is a
printing technology and business process in which new copies of a
book (or other document) are not printed until an order has been
received. "Print on Demand" developed only after digital printing
began, because it was not economical to print single copies using
traditional printing technology such as letterpress and offset
printing. In todays print market some companies also use the term to
mean short run printing often targeting vanity or academic works.
In its simplest form copies of the document are only printed when an
order is received.
CreateSpace (createspace.com) is an established POD printer (an
Amazon.com company). I have approached them as a POD source for the
2009 Iris Check List. Following are the terms, operational
characteristics, and benefits of using this POD source.
This is how it works.
The CreateSpace primary thrust is to produce Trade Paperbacks but
they also have the capability to produce hardback books.
Production (for a Trade Paperback)
AIS signs up for a (free) account and submits a print ready file to
CreateSpace. The file is reviewed for conformance to their technical
standards. (No proof reading is performed, that would be our
responsibility.)
Once the file is approved we would order a proof copy. The charge for
the proof copy is the same as a production copy (pricing below). The
typical time for production of the proof copy is 1-2 days.
Once the proof is approved, we set the list price for the book and
activate the sales channels we wish to use (see below).
At this point we are given a page in the CreateSpace eStore. This is
a webpage that anyone can use to purchase our book. If you would like
to see a sample page, go to:
https://www.createspace.com/3405715
(you may have to paste this address into the address bar of your
browser)
Purchasers pay the list price plus shipping and we receive our
royalty from CreateSpace.
When a book is ordered CreateSpace prints the book and ships it to
the recipient. It generally takes 1-2 days for production. At the
time the order is placed the purchaser is given an estimated delivery
time and has a choice of shipping methods.
We can of course order copies at our cost to have on hand at the AIS
Storefront or to offer for sale at our meetings and conventions.
Production (Hardback)
Once the trade paperback version has been approved for production, we
can opt to have the book produced in hard cover. There is an
additional setup charge and different pricing for this (see below).
Marketing
As part of the standard package CreateSpace provides an eStore page
(as mentioned above) and a listing on Amazon.com. (At this time a
hardcover version would not be listed on Amazon, only on the eStore)
They also offer a Pro Plan option that allows us to earn additional
royalties and lower manufacturing costs as well as access to an
Expanded Distribution Channel (EDC) with the potential to distribute
our book to a larger audience through more outlets including:
retailers, bookstores, libraries, academic institutions, wholesalers,
and distributors. One disadvantage of the EDC is that books sold
through the Expanded Distribution Channel may be manufactured by
third parties. There may be some minor differences in manufacturing
(e.g. paper thickness, color shade, etc.) between the EDC and other
Channels. (Hardcover books are not listed in the EDC.)
Below is a Cost and Royalty Comparison between the Standard and Pro
Plans.
(List price shown only for comparison, our price will be different)
Standard Plan
Pro Plan
CS eStore
Amazon
CS eStore
Amazon
EDC
List Price
$16.00
$16.00
$16.00
$16.00
$16.00
CS Share
$7.70
$10.90
$5.85
$9.05
$12.25
AIS Royalty
$8.30
$5.10
$10.15
$6.95
$3.75
We can choose which channels we activate for our sales.
Costs (Trade Paperback)
Standard account no charge
Pro Plan $39.90 first year, $5.00 per year thereafter
Estimated unit manufacturing cost (794 pages plus covers, 6 X 9
trim ) - $10.37
Costs (Hardback)
Conversion to hardback - $199.00
Estimated unit manufacturing cost - $18.41
Jody has gotten some quotes for small run quantities of hardcopy
versions:
Source
300 units
per copy/total cost
400 Units
per copy/total cost
500 units
per copy/total cost
Colorwise press
70# satin
17.44/$5232
16.66/$6665
16.14/$8072
50# uncoated
16.47/$4942
15.70/$6278
15.18/$7588
DiYa Corporation
(7 days for sample, 35 for final)
Includes shipping
18.89/$5667
12.48/$6240
Book Printing Revolution
plus shipping, $99 set up fee
18.57/$5571
16.24/$6496
Bookmasters
plus shipping
16.53/$4959
Benefits of POD
AIS does not have to spend thousands of dollars to have 1200 - 1500
copies of the Check List printed and shipped to the AIS Storefront.
Much faster availability of first printed units.
There is no minimum purchase requirement.
There are no storage requirements for the AIS Storefront, no trips to
storage containers.
We dont have to insure the books against loss or damage (we have in
the past lost the entire stock of a Check List to water damage).
Large heavy cartons of books dont have to be shipped to new
storefront locations.
No risk of loosing money long term by ordering too many copies and
having to sell them at below cost.
We dont have to worry about continually changing shipping and
mailing charges esp. to foreign addresses. That is all handled by the
eStore process.
We could price the softcover at $17.00 and the Hardcover at $22.00.
The hardcover price would only be a $5.00 over the price of the
previous Check List from 10 years ago. (We ordered 3000 copies of the
1999 Check List. The per unit cost was approximately $4.00, total
cost approximately $12,000 plus shipping.)
Convert publication to Kindle - $69.00
Longer Term
We could, for minimum cost, convert previous Check Lists to POD and
eliminate all the costs of maintaining storage of them.
We could publish a complete copy of an updated and corrected
Registrar database.
Disadvantages
Might be slightly more expensive for purchasers.