Creators set their print book price during the creation process. The minimum price for a print book is the manufacturing cost. If you wish to distribute your book through online retail sites, there is also a distribution fee. Then you add the amount of revenue you wish to earn from each book purchased.

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Books Eligible for Retail Distribution

Not all book sizes and binding types are eligible for distribution through retail channels. If you choose the option to sell your book through major online book retailers in the publishing tool, only those formats that qualify for retail distribution AND match the page size in your PDF are available for selection. 


For a complete list of distribution-eligible book formats, see the Lulu Product Page. 

Calculators

The Manufacturing Cost, Shipping Estimate, Bulk Discount, and Retail Revenue calculators are accessed from the Pricing page.

  

To access the calculators:

  • Go to Lulu.com and click Pricing in the page header.
  • Choose your book size, enter the number of pages, and select print quality, paper, and binding type.
  • The calculators will display estimates based on your selections. 

Bulk Discounts

Automatic discounts are applied to orders of printed products based on the quantity indicated for your purchase. These discounts are applied to orders of multiple copies of the same item. Place the products you want to buy into your Shopping Cart then change the quantity in the shopping cart.


Orders of 100-499 books will have a 5% discount automatically applied at checkout.


Note: For bulk orders of 500 units or more, please fill out the form here to reach out to a member of our sales team for a custom quote.


A volume discount calculator is also included on the Pricing page. After you select your desired specifications, you can see the price per book if you are ordering in bulk.


If you're still planning your book, use our Products Page to find the size, binding, paper, and ink options available for your book.

Retail Pricing: Getting Started

In any business, including self-publishing, the ultimate reason for an effective pricing system is to earn revenue from your work. Since the amount of revenue earned depends on manufacturing costs, selling price, and the number of books sold, you should consider the following when pricing your work:

  • What are the manufacturing costs for my book?  
  • How much profit do I want to make? 
  • What are my fans willing to pay? 
  • What is my competition charging for a similar product?

Profit vs. Revenue

Before we start setting a price for your printed book, there are a few terms you should be familiar with if your intention is to earn income from sales of your book.

  • Profit is the net income for your business after other expenses have been accounted for, including payment to authors, pre-production, labor, marketing, and overhead costs such as utilities and rent.
  • Revenue is a general term for any money Lulu pays you for book sales.

Determine a Product Price

You may have created the best book ever on your chosen topic, but if the wrong price is set, your sales and/or revenue will suffer. Therefore, you must first know your book’s manufacturing cost so that a break-even point can be established. Keep in mind that self-publishing manufacturing costs include both materials and labor.


If, after using the formulas below, you find that your selling price is noticeably higher than that of authors offering comparable works, you may want to look for ways to reduce your manufacturing costs or expected revenue per book in exchange for potentially selling more units.


Please Note: If you choose Global Distribution for your print book, it is subject to the retail pricing model described below.

Wholesale and Retail Pricing Example

In the example below, assume you have determined a market exists for a book about The Fundamentals of Underwater Firefighting. The manufacturing cost for each book is $5.50. You determine your minimum acceptable revenue per book is $4.00. The overhead cost, or Lulu commission, is $1.00 per book.

Wholesale Price

In this example, “Wholesale Price” refers to the minimum price at which you are willing to sell your book to retailers, who will in turn sell it to their customers for a profit.

  

Wholesale Price per Book = Manufacturing Cost + Revenue + Lulu Commission 

  

From our example: $5.50 + $4.00 + $1.00 = $10.50 per book


Since manufacturing costs are somewhat out of the author’s control, this pricing example relies on your decisions about the revenue you wish to make from each retail purchase of your book. An author should also consider that while you may be earning a smaller royalty per book when offering it at a wholesale price, you could eventually earn more income from higher book sales through retail channels.

Retail (or List) Price

The generally accepted retail pricing formula is: Wholesale Price x 2


From our example: $10.50 x 2 = $21.00


When you decide to offer your work to retailers at wholesale prices, it is with the understanding that the retailer expects to sell your work at a price sufficient to cover their costs and still make a profit – even if the retailer chooses to offer your work at a discount.

Suggested Retail Price and Your Revenue

The wholesale price you set for your book is the price retailers pay to purchase your book for resale from their sites, stores, or shops. The suggested retail price includes a price markup sufficient to cover the retailer’s labor, marketing, rent, utilities, and other fixed costs associated with owning and running a business. The retailer may choose to sell your work at the full retail price ($21.00 from our example above), they may offer a standard discount like free shipping, or they may run a special for a defined period of time such as 25% off all print books. The selling price set by the retailer has no effect on the revenue you earn from selling your book at the wholesale price – in other words, if your Retail Revenue is set at $4, you will make $4 for every book sold in retail channels, even if the retailer offers a discount.

Retail Price Calculator

Since no single pricing formula works for all projects and no formula assures maximum creator revenue, every author must approach retail pricing individually. 

  

Lulu provides a Retail Price Calculator. This calculator allows you to see how book size, binding, print, and paper selections affect both the manufacturing and retail pricing for your book. There is also a retail price calculator (available while creating your project) that provides an exact price for the project you created.


Within the calculator, it is probably easier to set a preferred retail price and let Lulu calculate your maximum revenue based on your book’s specifications (page count, paper quality, binding, etc.). Using the $21.00 retail price from the above example and assuming a 100% markup, the calculator automatically sets a wholesale price of $10.50.


The wholesale price minus production costs determines what is left over for your revenue and the Lulu commission. Using the calculator, you can

  • Enter a Retail price and Lulu calculates your revenue and the Lulu commission. 
  • Enter a Revenue amount and Lulu calculates the retail price and the Lulu commission. 
  • Enter $0 in the Royalty field to reset the price to the minimum manufacturing cost.

Lulu Bookstore Price vs. Retail Price

In the above wholesale pricing example, you make $4.00 for every copy of The Fundamentals of Underwater Firefighting purchased by a retailer. But how does revenue compare if you choose to sell your work through retailers and the Lulu Bookstore? Using the same pricing structure:


DescriptionLulu PriceRetail Price
Suggested Retail Price$21.00$21.00
Manufacturing Cost*
(# of Pages + Binding + Labor)		$5.50$5.50
Retail MarkupN/A$10.50
Net Revenue
(Price – Cost – Markup)		$15.50$5.00
Lulu Commission
(20% of Net Profit)		$3.10$1.00
Creator Revenue$12.40$4.00


The retail manufacturing cost is an estimate since some retailers, such as Amazon.com, own the presses on which your book will be printed and can, therefore, print and assemble books at a slightly different manufacturing cost.

Why Must My Lulu Bookstore Price Match My Retail Price?

A single retail price is not only a good business practice, but it also ensures that your retail partners are not selling your title at a disadvantage. This practice also complies with markets operating under a "fixed-price law."


Books with Global Distribution, therefore, have one suggested list price for retail sales on Lulu, Amazon, iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, and other bookstores. The list price must be the same for all retail channels.


Please note: Ingram may exclude your title from their channel if it is priced at $125 USD or higher. 

Sharjah may be excluded from LSI's channel if your list price is lower than the revenue, so if you don't see your title listed in this market, please contact support for assistance.