Book Pricing
Many authors have questions about how the retail pricing of their book will be determined. Unfortunately, some publishers set unrealistically high retail prices for books without author input in order to recoup production costs.  CrossLink is able to sell books at very reasonable prices and is very open about how we compute retail price, working with authors to establish the final book and eBook prices.

The recommended retail price is determined solely by the wholesale price and the discount that retailers demand in order to purchase your book. To ensure your book has the widest possible distribution, CrossLink books are sold at a 55% discount. Here is a summary of these two concepts:

Wholesale Price
This is the price that online retailers and bookstores will pay when purchasing your book. The wholesale price is calculated to cover production costs and includes such expenses as:

  • ISBN Number
  • Library of Congress Number
  • Manuscript Editing
  • Manuscript Formatting
  • Cover Design
  • Print Setup
  • Print Production
  • Configuration of Amazon Inside the Book
  • Distribution within the AtlasBooks distribution network
  • Distribution within the Ingram and Spring Arbor networks
  • Freight Charges to Wholesalers
  • Sales representation by the AtlasBooks and Noble Marketing sales teams
  • Inclusion in the AtlasBooks Print Catalog provided to bookstores
  • Submission to Bowker ISBN database
  • Submission to Christian Books & More database
  • Printed copies sent to Library of Congress and the Library Journal
  • Submission to NovelRank tracking database
  • Author Royalties

Once your book has been formatted and the final page count is known, CrossLink will calculate the recommended wholesale and retail prices and send you a detailed list of calculations used to determine pricing.

Discount Rate and Retail Price
In order to guarantee your book is available in every possible online and retail store, CrossLink will establish a retail price that allows a 55% discount to retailers. For example, a book with a retail price of $10 and a discount of 55% will sell to Amazon and other retailers for only $4.55. Out of this wholesale price, CrossLink must pay all book expenses listed above.

Can you give me an estimated retail price based upon my word count?
We know that on average, our books format to about 225 words per page. Based upon our average production and distribution costs we can project costs and provide retail pricing estimates. Your actual retail price may vary depending on final page count.