Analysis of Self-Publishing Tech Books

Data from 2004...

• Costs about $250 to get 10 ISBN numbers.
• Costs about $11/book (of about 600 pages) to print using on demand...
• Add another $2 per book for shipping to places like Amazon.
• Amazon pays 45% of suggested retail price per book.

So if it costs you somewhere around $13 a book to make it, if you price a 600 page book at $49.99, and you can sell it thru Amazon (which they buy at a price of $22.50) you will make $9.50 per book sold. That is assuming you do all the work yourself (of course).

Now, compare that to APress. commission of 10% net profit (I'm not picking on APress, but they publish their rates because they pay well). Even if APress can produce a book for less than the $13 that it would cost you (say cut it half to $6.50), APress. net profit can not be more than about $16 a book which means you will get $1.60 a book ...