At the same time, I can charge $2.99 because there’s virtually no overhead. available in paperback format with the updated covers and updated stories. And second – and more importantly – there’s a bunch of overhead here. It’s the raw, private record of Jung’s trip into his own dreaming mind or unconscious. An earlier version of this post appeared at the Anxious Bench blog, Patheos. But one thing stopping a lot of readers from picking up the paperback versions, I’m told, is that they are just too darned expensive. If your local library does not have it, the best way to get access to those sorts of books is through inter-library loan, an invaluable but underused resource at many libraries. So as an author I choose between Amazon taking 65% of my book sale price or the cost of delivery ($.01-$7.50) plus 30%. The first book to achieve a sale price of greater than $1 million was a copy of the Gutenberg Bible which sold for $2.4 million in 1978. Any sales above this are just a bonus. If I go to a bookstore, the average book there costs $24.95. Amazon dictates their fees and they dictate the printing costs. (This happened with The Protestant Interest, for example.). I owe him a lot. Thomas S. Kidd is the Vardaman distinguished professor of history at Baylor University and the author of many books, including Who Is an Evangelical? I also have a handful of friends who like to gift books, and they have gifted my books in the past, which is terribly nice of them. So you're singling out one provider in an industry where everybody pretty much charges the same thing. I’m a Kindle reader, and I can get Kindle versions of books for relatively cheap. The reason behind that price is a balancing act between making money for me and saving money for readers. That means higher prices so that publishers can recoup the costs and make a profit. Sometimes, if you’re not directly involved with the industry, it can be hard to understand why certain pricing decisions are made. So I ~ along with millions of others worldwide ~ am tantalized by the upcoming publication of Jung’s Red Book, a massive tome he wrote about 100 years ago and which has been secreted away in a Swiss bank vault for many of those years. Because there are production costs involved (paper, binding, ink, handling, delivery), your profit is getting cut into right there. The History of a Movement in Crisis (Yale, 2019); Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father (Yale, 2017); Baptists in America: A History with Barry Hankins (Oxford, 2015); George Whitefield: America’s Spiritual Founding Father (Yale, 2014); and Patrick Henry: First Among Patriots (Basic, 2011). Eventually, they decline unless drastic actions are taken. Context is everything in this case. The press makes the decision on the “list price,” and then retailers like Amazon decide how much to discount the book, based upon the discount they were able to get for it, and how many copies they think they can sell. Unfortunately, the choice for an author is often having a worthy book in print at a high price, or not having it in print at all (or at least not in print with an established press). Copyright © 2021 The Gospel Coalition, INC. All Rights Reserved. In print format, Framed is a 284-page book. What follows is 16 years of the psychoanalyst's dive into the unconscious mind, … It’s 279 pages long, and I can offer it via Kindle for $2.99. As an individual consumer, the presses simply do not expect you to buy a $70 book. The plot reads like a thriller and should be filled with twists and turns, but is fairly straightforward — I would have loved a little more mystery. It’s virtually the same profit I get from selling the Kindle version. The Gospel Coalition supports the church by providing resources that are trusted and timely, winsome and wise, and centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases on Amazon.com. Marketing Costs: 15% The publisher of our text reported $32 million spent on advertising for all products company-wide; overall, about 15% of a publisher's budget for a book … So at $12.99, my thought process is that you’re already saving money. Related products. Red is usually associated with feelings like lust, courage, passion, anger and fear. Some might say, “Well, if they did not price it so … It still beats going to the bookstore. If I charge less than that, my royalty rate is cut down by more than half. It specifies every feature a disc must possess to be able to call itself a CD-Audio disc. The materials for making a book couldn't have become that pricey since then. Written by Tom Meitner, your favorite author. That’s a nice-sized book. So they are gambling over 50,000 USD that this book … The best thing you can do about this problem is to keep buying high-quality books that are within your price range. But lately we've seen emerging book collectors with an affinity for the modern, the damaged, the quirky and the recently influential. Students are finding ways to avoid paying sky-high prices Renting textbooks is … In print format, Framed is a 284-page book. The first words of Carl Gustav Jung's Red Book are "The way of what is to come.". If the book sells reasonably well, or if it seems to have potential for course adoptions, the press might come out later with a less expensive paperback edition. If the book sells reasonably well, or if it seems to have potential for course adoptions, the press might come out later with a less expensive paperback edition. So that already is affecting how much I get in return. The Red Book dates back to the early 1980’s when the CD format was first standardized. This was a long time coming. Some might say, “Well, if they did not price it so high, maybe more people would buy it!” This could be true in certain cases, but with the proliferation of books across all genres, the “high price, low sales” model is probably a safer bet for presses to recoup their expenses. Sold by … Red was an expensive color in 17th-century France because at the time, the dye was made from a little bug found in Mexican cactus, the cochineal. Under Amazon’s current system, $2.99 is the minimum price I need to charge for the higher royalty rate. So, roughly 32% of our book's price, or $58, would be used to retribute the salaries of the employees who produced it. Because of that, I can charge $2.99 and still have a healthy business model. Unless I’m interested in printing them myself and keeping a big box of them down in my basement in hopes that I’ll be able to sell them and make my money back, this is the best option. If they price the book at 40 USD, then their guaranteed income is 24,000 USD. In a bookstore, that’s easily a $25 book. True, some companies price things out just to see how much money they could make (Apple, I’m looking in your direction!). How Bad Is This Moment in American History? That's why you're here, right? Jung’s Red Book isn’t pitched at entry level. That’s a nice-sized book. The color red is one of the most primal colors in our world, thanks to its association with blood. The Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Five, 1997-1999 $ 45.00 – $ 50.00 Select options The Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Four, 1994-1996 $ 45.00 – $ 50.00 Select options The Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 1985-1987 Hello, I am wanting to obtain a copy of the book "Exploration Fawcett." It’s actually one of the reasons I don’t buy paper books much anymore. First, Amazon has a different royalty rate for print books. The Red Book: Liber Novus is a red leather‐bound folio manuscript crafted by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung between 1915 and about 1930. Why those authors sell the most copies is another topic for another time. Seriously,why?About 10 years ago books used to be so much more cheaper and better quality!Even the hard covers didnt have a big difference in price compared to soft covers.I've seen some thin soft covers that cost about $40 and dont get me started on school books, its ridiculous. That high price is (hopefully) their way of breaking even. Thanks to my co-blogger Justin Taylor for his input on this version! Take Framed, for example – the first book in my Hardwick series. First, Amazon has a different royalty rate for print books. Drastic actions are taken over 50,000 USD that this book … Eventually, they decline unless drastic actions taken. And fear happened with the Protestant Interest, for example – the first book in my series... 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