5. Keep inventory low, prices right and profit high.
Overestimating the print quantity in the first or second reprint can be a publisher’s biggest mistake, according to Liss. “If you reprint too soon or too much, you end up recycling and/or writing off a bunch of inventory.”
Carolyn Sakowski, president, John F. Blair, Publisher, in Winston-Salem, N.C., agrees. Sakowski, whose company publishes books on the Southeast, has seen publishers make the mistake of printing large initial quantities in order to keep the unit price down. “If you have 10,000 books in your warehouse that aren’t selling, you really haven’t kept your unit price down at all. On the other hand, I’ve seen publishers print small quantities, but not take into consideration all the costs other than printing that will be involved when they are setting their retail prices. It’s a balancing act to price the book to cover your costs, but not to price the book out of its market.”