This is a sample budget for a novel of approximately 100,000 words in length with estimated sales of 100 copies (50 e-books, 50 print books). All prices are in USD.
Book Production and Printing
| Item | Number Needed | Total Price | Source/Notes |
| Front Cover Art | n/a | $250 | Artist selected in discussion with the author based on the themes/style of their book. |
| Manuscript Formatting/Typesetting | n/a | $200 | The minimum amount the author will receive; will be divided for works with multiple authors. |
| Author Royalties | n/a | $500 | The minimum amount the author will receive; will be divided for works with multiple authors. |
| DPP’s Payment | n/a | $500 | The minimum amount Duck Prints Press gets to pay for editing, contributing to beta-reading and sensitivity reading, marketing, running the campaign, etc. |
| TPB Digest Size | 50 | $432 | 50 copies, digest size (5.5″ x 8.5″), grayscale interior, 80 lb. interior paper, 300 pages, perfect binding, full color satin/matte cover; price includes shipping. Printed by Mixam. |
| ISBNs | 3 | n/a | Paid for by the Press on the author’s behalf. |
| Protective Packaging for Books | 50 | n/a | Paid for by the Press on your behalf. Source: Papermart. |
| Total Book Production Cost | $1,882 |
Merchandise
We anticipate that stand-alone novels will have probably around 4 merch items apiece, and only one merch level on offering. The below is a list of potential merch items and how much each would cost. We are open to other merch items, depending on what the author is thinking, but ideally all merch items would ship (more or less) flat. Large, bulky items won’t work well/will greatly increase production, fulfillment and shipping costs.
Note: there are a lot of variations available for all of these items – size, color, embellishments, paper type, etc., can be modified, depending on the item.
Bookmarks:
| Item | Number Needed | Total Price | Source/Notes |
| Bookmark Printing | 25 | $32 | 2″ x 7.25″, 16 pt. glossy cardstock paper, one-sided printing, 3/16″ center top hole, rounded corners. Printed by UPrinting. |
| Bookmark Art | n/a | $50 | Artist selected in discussion with the author based on the themes/style of their book; alternatively, this could be derived from the cover art. |
| Bookmark Shipping | n/a | $10 | Estimate; shipping from UPrinting is expensive but they also make a very good product and always send us as much as half-again more than we order. |
| Tassels | 25 | n/a | Paid for by the Press on your behalf. We source tassels from the Etsy shop DIYartworld. |
| Total Cost to Produce Bookmarks | $92 |
Art Prints:
Our standard is that art prints are of the book’s front cover, so there is not an additional art commission cost associated with producing art prints.
| Item | Number Needed | Total Price | Source/Notes |
| Art Print Production | 25 | $31 | 8″ x 10″, matte card 100 lb paper. Printed by PrintKeg. |
| Art Print Shipping | n/a | $10 | Shipping could be combined with postcard shipping, the price dependent on the final weight. |
| Protective Baggies | 25 | n/a | Paid for by the Press on your behalf. Source: Papermart. |
| Total Cost to Produce Art Prints | $41 |
Postcards:
Our standard is that art prints are of the book’s front cover, so there is not an additional art commission cost associated with producing art prints.
| Item | Number Needed | Total Price | Source/Notes |
| Postcard Printing | 25 | $22 | 4″ x 6″ postcards, printed on both sides, glossy paper unspecified weight. Printed by PrintKeg. |
| Postcard Shipping | n/a | $10 | Shipping could be combined with postcard shipping, the price dependent on the final weight. |
| Protective Baggies | 25 | n/a | Paid for by the Press on your behalf. Source: Papermart. |
| Total Cost to Produce Postcards | $32 |
Die-Cut Stickers:
| Item | Number Needed | Total Price | Source/Notes |
| Sticker Printing | 50 (minimum order) | $53 | Die-cut sticker, glossy, contour shape, 3″ x 3″. Other sizes/shapes available, as are other types of stickers (such as sticker sheets and bumper stickers). note that 50 is the minimum order size with our vendor so this might not be the most appropriate choice for a project thought to be small, or it might make a good stretch goal. Printed by StickerNinja. |
| Sticker Art | n/a | $50 | Artist selected in discussion with the author based on the themes/style of their book; alternatively, this could be derived from the cover art. |
| Sticker Shipping | n/a | n/a | StickerNinja doesn’t charge separate shipping. |
| Protective Baggies | 25 | n/a | Paid for by the Press on your behalf. Source: Papermart. |
| Total Cost to Produce Die-Cut Stickers | $103 |
Enamel Pins:
| Item | Number Needed | Total Price | Source/Notes |
| Enamel Pin Creation | 50 (minimum order) | $235 | Soft-enamel, simple shapes, 5 – 6 ink colors, largest dimension is 1.75″, black dye metal, no backer stamp, clear epoxy cover. Lots of variations are possible. Created by Alchemy. |
| Enamel Pin Art | n/a | $50 | Artist selected in discussion with the author based on the themes/style of their book. This could NOT be derived from the cover art, as enamel pin art needs to meet certain requirements. |
| Enamel Pin Shipping | n/a | n/a | Alchemy doesn’t charge separate shipping. |
| Boxes | 25 | $0 | Paid for by the Press on your behalf. Source: Papermart. |
| Total Cost to Produce Enamel Pins | $285 |
Key Chains:
| Item | Number Needed | Total Price | Source/Notes |
| Key Chain Printing | 25 | $48 | 3″ x 3″, double sided (same image on both sides), clear acrylic keychains with a simple clasp keychain attachment. A lot of variations and options are available on their website. Created by Vograce. |
| Key Chain Art | n/a | $50 | Artist selected in discussion with the author based on the themes/style of their book; alternatively, this could be derived from the cover art. |
| Key Chain Shipping | n/a | $30 | Vograce charges a lot for shipping (they ship from China) but makes a very nice product. (Also, they’re much cheaper than other key-chain makers, so it balances out). |
| Protective Baggies | 25 | n/a | Paid for by the Press on your behalf. Source: Papermart. |
| Total Cost to Produce Key Chains | $128 |
Magnets:
| Item | Number Needed | Total Price | Source/Notes |
| Magnet Printing | 25 | $44 | 3″ x 3″, 20 mil thickness, gloss laminate. NOTE: this would be a new vendor for us. Made by Blue Bee Printing. |
| Magnet Art | n/a | $50 | Artist selected in discussion with the author based on the themes/style of their book; alternatively, this could be derived from the cover art. |
| Magnet Shipping | n/a | $10 | Estimated, since we haven’t worked with this vendor before we don’t know for sure. |
| Protective Baggies | 25 | n/a | Paid for by the Press on your behalf. Source: Papermart. |
| Total Cost to Produce Magnets |
Circular/Punch Pins:
| Item | Number Needed | Total Price | Source/Notes |
| Circular Pin Production | 25 | n/a | Paid for by the Press on your behalf. NOTE: the Press would have to buy or borrow a badge press and supplies; these would be bought in bulk. We would make the pins in-house. |
| Pin Art | n/a | $50 | Artist selected in discussion with the author based on the themes/style of their book; alternatively, this could be derived from the cover art. |
| Protective Baggies | 25 | n/a | Paid for by the Press on your behalf. Source: Papermart. |
| Total Cost to Produce Circular Pins | $50 |
Shipping Materials
All shipping materials will be paid for on your behalf by the Press – it’s far cheaper for us to buy such materials in bulk and price them accordingly.
Sample Crowd-Funding Campaign Backer Levels
To help authors understand what a campaign utilizing the above numbers would “look like,” we put together a sample campaign with backer levels and expenses calculated. This represents one possible configuration for handling things out of basically infinite possible configurations. For this sample campaign, we propose that the merchandise is an art print, a key chain, a die-cut sticker, and a circular pin; the campaign has a proposed budget/initial funding goal of $3,000. We assume a backer uses Kickstarter for the purposes of this budget, but that’s not a requirement and we are open to other funding platforms.
Estimates are based on current costs and past performance. Stretch goals will need to be set – could include extra content, more merch, etc.
Backer Level 1: E-book only (plus inclusion on the e-book backer list). Cost for backer to purchase: $10. Cost to ship to backer: $0. Estimated sales: 50
Backer Level 2: Trade paperback and e-book. Cost for backer to purchase: $20. Cost to ship to backer: $4 domestic, $30 international. Cost to produce: $19. Estimated sales: 25
Backer Level 3: Trade paperback, e-book, and merch (art print of the cover, key chain with original art, die-cut sticker featuring part of the cover, circular pin with original art). Cost for backer to purchase: $50. Cost to ship to backer: $8 domestic, $35 international. Cost to Produce: $30. Estimated sales: 25
Proposed add-ons: Note that all platforms allow add-ons. Author Signatures ($5 per book); Personalized/Custom Dedications on the Dedication Page ($15); Inclusion on a Premium Backer List ($5); Backer can rename a character ($50); other books from the DPP catalog ($6 – $8); other merchandise from the DPP catalog ($3 – $15)
Cost of the Campaign:
| Item | Number Needed | Total Price | Price Per Unit |
| Book Productions | 100 | $1,882 | $18.82 |
| Art Print | 25 | $41 | $1.64 |
| Die-cut Sticker | 25 | $53 | $2.10 |
| Circular Pin | 25 | $50 | $2.00 |
| Key Chain | 25 | $128 | $5.12 |
| Cost to Produce Campaign Items: | $2,154 | ||
| Estimated Shipping Costs: | $565 | ||
| Funding Site Fees (based on Kickstarter): | $245 | ||
| Estimated New York State Sales Tax Owed | $22 | ||
| TOTAL ESTIMATED COST (the previous four data rows added together) | $2,986 |
The difference between the total amount raised by the proposed levels ($2,815) and the actual total amount to meet the goal ($3,000) can be raised by selling add-ons.
When/if the project exceeds the funding goal, additional funds would be used for:
- producing the necessary items for fulfillment;
- a percent of what remains to the author;
- a percent of what remains to the Press.
Probably, these percentages would match royalty percentages – which is to say, once all merch/shipping/books/fulfillment essentials are paid, profit will be split in the same percentages as e-book royalty sales, as agreed on with the author; currently we’re offering 75% to author/25% to us.