Factors affecting your print book (pBook) royalties include print cost, retail price, and trade discount. To calculate eBook royalties, see Calculating eBook Royalties.
With online retail distribution, your pBook is printed at the time of purchase. When your pBook is sold through Amazon, CreateSpace takes a 40% trade discount. When your pBook is sold through Barnes & Noble online (BN.com), NOOK Press takes a 45% trade discount. When your pBook is listed through Expanded Distribution, CreateSpace takes a 60% trade discount.
| Online Retailer | Trade Discount |
| Amazon | 40% |
| Barnes & Noble | 45% |
| Expanded Distribution (Other) | 60% |
For example, If your online retail price is $15 and your pBook is selling on Amazon, $9 remains after the 40% trade discount. To calculate your profit, subtract the pBook’s print cost ($3.08) from $9. Your profit is $5.92 from the sale of one copy of your pBook.*
If your online retail price is $15 and your pBook is selling on BN.com, $8.25 remains after the 45% trade discount. Subtracting the pBook’s print cost ($3.26) from $8.25, your profit is $4.99 from the sale of one copy of your pBook.*
One exception to this latter example is when you sell on Amazon and choose CreateSpace’s Expanded Distribution option. In that case, your pBook will automatically be available for sale on BN.com. Generally, authors will want Expanded Distribution to make their pBooks available online in foreign countries.
However, for pBooks listed through CreateSpace’s Expanded Distribution and sold on BN.com, the author royalties will be less than if the author had uploaded the pBook directly to Barnes & Noble. A 60% trade discount, as opposed to a 45% trade discount, will be taken from the retail price of every pBook sold on BN.com.
For a $15 pBook sold on BN.com through Expanded Distribution, $6 would remain after the 60% trade discount. Subtracting the pBook’s print cost ($3.08) from $6, your profit would be $2.92 from the sale of one copy of your pBook.*
| Retail Price | Amazon Profit* | Barnes & Noble Profit* | Expanded Distribution Profit* |
| $15 | $5.92 | $4.99 | $2.92 |
To get around this situation, your pBook can be listed through CreateSpace to make it available on Amazon, but without choosing to list your pBook through Expanded Distribution. Your pBook can then be listed through NOOK Press to make it available on BN.com. Finally, your pBook can then be listed through Expanded Distribution.
You can also choose to pack and mail the books yourself. Keep in mind that you’ll have the cost and time commitments of printing your books, storing your inventory, shipping your orders, tracking sales, processing credit cards or setting up a different method of payment (e.g., PayPal, etc.), and providing customer support.
*The print cost is estimated based on a 185-page, 5.5 x 8.5″ softcover book printed in black and white on 55# cream paper. Print costs will vary for each book.