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In Praise of 5 x 8 Format

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GB PRESS are moving away from the 6 x 9 format paperbacks and adapting the 5 x 8 format for all future novels published. I’ve seen a book printed by Createspace in that latter format and I support the move. The book fits in your hand better and can be priced closer to a Mass Market Paperback than the Trade Paperback format.

GB PRESS is a digital first, paper second publisher. We focus on ebooks first and usually wait until a book shows signs of selling before preparing a paperback version. This is purely an economic decision. It costs more money to prepare the interior design of a paperback and to create a wrap-around cover design. Unless the author has the income generated by ebook sales, he or she would have to shell out several hundred dollars for the added design work required for a paperback.

Personally,  it costs me about 2 or 3 hundred dollars to get an ebook to market. Until my ebook earns back that money and then earns more to cover the paperback costs, it really makes no sense to have a paper version of the book. Especially since paperback sales are typically low for unknown writers. Now if I were willing to take an initial loss out of the gates, I could do both the digital and the paperbacks. But that’s not really any way to grow a business.

We’re getting ready to put out a Second Edition of the Starstrikers paperback, because that book has in fact earned enough to justify the costs. But so far, Tyrmia has not. There may never be a paperback version of that book unless the ebook starts moving in large numbers. Too bad, because its a much better read than Starstrikers.

 

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