Changing our Print Policies & A Classic Cover

SPONSORING TITLE - go and buy it! Much like my personal Substack, I’m going to sponsor this post with one book. Circumstances allowed for the re-release of Sid Williams’s GNELFS with the original classic cover art by Richard Newton. This is an iconic cover from the heyday of horror. Available in all eBook formats, Trade Paperback, and Unabridged audio.

You can find the book at all eBook retailers, paperback at Amazon and audio at Audible (or Amazon) The paperback is only $12.99 and the eBook is on sale for a limited time for $2.99.

PRINT POLICY: I’m going to start right out by saying we have now adjusted all 700 plus paperback titles that we publish on Amazon. Most prices have come down, some by a considerable amount, and a few went slightly up so that when we order copies for authors we don’t go in the red.

Here’s the thing. With the inequities and ridiculous pricing they force on publishers, Lightning Source and Ingram continue to make it difficult, if not impossible, for a print on demand publisher to reach bookstores or libraries. The simple fact is that their print prices are higher than Amazon’s, and to offer the 55% discount that Ingram requires (with returns) and still make any money at all, a book that we can price at $12.99 on Amazon has to be around $17 or $18 on Lightning Source. On top of that, you pay a fee just to be on the platform and a bigger initial fee to get into the catalog where libraries and bookstores see your book. Despite our attempting to do all of that, very few of the books we publish through Lightning Source sell, while sales at Amazon are rising. Our paperback percentage on our total sales has risen from about 12% to over 20%.

What we are working on is a print catalog with pricing, titles, covers, etc. We’ll be trying to get it to specialty bookstores and libraries, and we’ll be asking them to order direct. We’ll offer them 45% off the cover price (and they pay shipping) which is better than Ingram offers. I’m hoping over time this will turn into a new way for Crossroad Press to market print books. It has to happen because all the work and angst over high prices brought very few results over a fairly long period of time. When that catalog is ready we will be asking for support getting it to local bookstores and libraries. Stay tuned!

PREORDERS: One of the best things you can do to support our authors is to pre-order these books. On release day it creates visibility. If we can we will lower release prices for Bookbub Promotions, etc… in particular could use some for the anthologies and the September / October releases. Next time I post I will concentrate on new releases in eBook, print, and audio… this time it’s the pre-orders.

September 12: The Devil Device - by Dave Jeffery / Tales of Nyarlathotep edited by C. T. Phipps (Contributors: David Hambling, C. T. Phipps, Matthew Davenport, Eric Malikyte, Andrea Pearson, David Niall Wilson and David J. West) Paperback Preorder here.

September 19: I Alone by Vic Kerry / Double Dose: (Duad Book II) by F. Paul Wilson.

September 26: The Canterbury Nightmares, edited by David Niall Wilson. (Contributors: S. A. Cosby, Eric LaRocca, Steve Rasnic Tem, Michael Boatman, Ai Jiang, Scott J. Moses, Terence Taylor, Stephen Mark Rainey and Anna Tambour).

October 10: Unfit to Print: A Modern Media Satire - by G. Wayne Miller.

November 7: Tales from the Lazaretto by Thom Carnell / Deed of Empire by Adam Stemple.

November 14: Moon Cops on the Moon by C. T. Phipps / Billy the Kid and the Lazarus Stone by Kevin Lucia.

November 21: Panic Switch by Michael DiMercurio

December 26: Harvest of Blood and Iron by Jay Ridler