For a while now my book, “The Most Dangerous Superstition,” has been out of print, only because I don’t have the money to do another printing. (Doing a small printing costs so much per book that it would be a loss; I need to print a bunch of copies at once to not lose money on the deal.) I’ve been working on a few ways to bring it back into print, including selling the rights to the book to someone else. But I think I have a better short-term solution to this:
I want to see how many people would want to pre-order an entire case of “The Most Dangerous Superstition” (which is 72 copies) for $300.
That’s $4.17 per book. And you can multiply the deal if you want—two cases (144 books) for $600, five cases (360 books) for $1,500, whatever. But do not just send me money now, because this isn’t happening unless and until I get enough people to commit to the deal. But if they do, I will pull the trigger, collect payments, immediately send it off to the printers I use in Michigan, and as soon as I get the shipment of books, send off cases to all of the people who pre-ordered. (It usually takes several weeks between placing an order and receiving a palette of books.)
You can, of course, resell the books yourself and make a profit. Or you can give them away. If you’re patient, you could even sell them back to me at a profit later on. The price of $300 per case already includes me shipping them anywhere in the U.S. by “media mail.” (If you are outside of the U.S., to get the deal you would need to pay whatever the extra postage is, which might be significant since a case weighs 40 pounds.)
To make the deal worth it, I need people to commit to buying a total of around twenty cases. So it may not happen at all, but if it does, some people will be getting a deal that never existed before and isn’t likely to happen ever again. ($400 per case is the lowest I’ve ever gone before now.)
So again, do not send money now, but if you would want in on the deal, send me an e-mail at “[email protected]” and let me know how many cases you want to commit to buying at $300 per case. If I get enough people committing, then we will go from there and get those printers moving again.
(P.S. If you want to see a pile of reviews of the book on Amazon.com, click below.)
Isn't it far more efficient to focus on digital distribution?
A lot of people still like actual physical books. (As the other guy mention, the e-book is still available.)
Sure ok, yes, I just took from your post that maybe you were doing this to generate revenue primarily.
@ura-soul I much prefer hard copies of books so can totally see where Larken is coming from
I hope not or he's really screwed.
Also it's nice to hand people something....they might actually read it. If you send them a link I think it is a lot less likely they will look at it.
The whole book is available on Kindle (Amazon), I bought and read it on my one. https://www.amazon.com/Most-Dangerous-Superstition-Larken-Rose-ebook/dp/B00UV41W2U
I have followed you for a while now and really am behind you in all that you do. I would love to help but I have my own financial problems at the moment-I can hardly afford to even feed myself and I live in a so called first world country-so I am sorry that I cannot help financially. However I shall resteem your post in the hope that someone amongst my followers can help. Good luck my friend, I really hope you get the help you need as your work is needed in this present climate. Peace.
@larkenrose this is the most brilliant idea ever, I would love to help with this campaign. I live in the UAE so don't know how we could do this. Please don't sell the rights to any crock
Doesn't Amazon do just-in-time printing?
There are a few such print-on-demand services, yes - though they typically take most of the profits unless the price is set high.
For those who are wondering, "print on demand" works, but is still a really inefficient, expensive alternative to doing old-fashioned bulk printing, when there is a big enough demand for the book.
I wonder what the shipping weight and cost would be?
Well, a case weighs 40 pounds, and it would be coming from Pennsylvania. To anywhere in the U.S., "media mail" is pretty dang cheap. To anywhere outside the U.S., it might be pretty harsh.
@larkenrose you could probably make a mini ICO in order to raise funds, for this purpose so instead of holding a case of books we will hold a bunch of tokens that could be redeemable in the future as you sell your books. Think about it. I would be in just to help your initiative.
I can do half of a case right away and a case possibly in a month or two. Thats what you can put me down for.
This book needs to be circulated. I bought a bunch of copies a few years back and handed it out to everyone I could think of.
... Now if only How to be a successful Tyrant was back in print... I've been really interested in finally getting my hands on a copy.
This is great, but where/when's the "next candles in the dark?"
I’ll do a case .
If you didn't already, feel free to fling an e-mail to "[email protected]" so I know who you are, and can contact you when we're ready to print.
Larken, raising money is NOT DIFFICULT. If you need money for THE MIRROR or to re-release your book just ask people for it. People are more then willing to club together to get projects like theses off the ground. Many sites now you can ask for help and people are amazing and even here on Steemit I have seen people get deposits for houses and money for health issues.