Did you know that most publishers charge you the wholesale price (or higher) for your own book unless you buy it in bulk?
The wholesale price! How are you supposed to make any money that way? The wholesale price is what retailers will expect to pay.
Make sure your author copy price is always BELOW wholesale (and if you compare around, you will find that self-publishers with solid author prices are usually dollars-per-book below other publishers). On a side note, some of these publishers pull authors in with low upfront fees. It becomes apparent where they do make their money.
Some publishers also attempt to conceal this by offering “bulk discounts” on large book orders of 100, 200, 500, or more.
Do you really want to buy 500 copies all the time, just to get a reasonable “per unit” price? Sure, when your book is first published, this might be okay because you’ll need marketing copies.
But what about 1-3 years down the road, when you just want 10 quick copies? Then what will each book cost you? Something to think about…
Have fun and keep writing.
– Karl Schroeder
Self Publishing Advisor 