Choosing Book Printing Quantity: Avoid Common Mistakes
Making the right decision about how many books to print is a major factor in determining how profitable your venture will be. Even experienced publishers guess wrong at times. If you don’t print enough books, you run into supply problems, possibly some angry customers, and the increased cost of reprints. If you print too many books well, that is an obvious problem as well. So how many books should you print?
I’ve worked for nearly 15 years in the book printing industry, and I still don’t have a perfect answer for this question. However, I would definitely recommend being cautious about printing too many books. It’s much more common to see someone end up with too many books than not enough.
Ask yourself how many books you would hope to sell in your realistic best-case scenario. I’m not talking about Oprah choosing your book for her book club - let’s stay grounded here. But come up with an optimistic number. Now look at your worst-case scenario. How many books are you extremely confident you can sell based on your current market research?
Now compare the numbers and choose something in-between, but probably closer to the lower side. Again, the cons of printing too few books usually heavily outweigh the cons of printing too many.
Which type of printing press should you use? You’ll basically need to choose between a digital press or an offset press. (There are other types of printing presses, but these are the main two options.)
If printing fewer than 1,000 books, you’ll probably be better off with a digital printer. On a digital press there really isn’t a huge cost savings based on quantity. So it’s definitely better to start with a lower quantity and come back for reprints later.
An offset press is better suited for quantities of at least 1,000. In this case, there can be some heavy quantity discounts. If you’re still debating on your quantity, comparing the cost per book numbers between quantities may help make your decision easier. In any case, be sure to ask your printer for quotes for a number of different quantities. Hey, if Oprah does call, at least you’ll be ready!
In other words: start small, but don’t be afraid to dream big! Keep working at it, and with a little luck and a lot of perseverance you’ll eventually start hitting those larger print runs.