Angela,

Even at a $30 dollar book price for Xlibris, I never got more than $3 a book. Since it cost $1200 CAD (Canadian dollar was very low when I went into Xlibris and within a week I lost $200 when the Canadian dollar jumped to the U.S. dollar), it is more likely 600 books (required to break even, not just 394 as quoted in the article).

George

PUBLISHER’S RESPONSE:

Using today’s currency conversion, the CAD equivalent of Xlibris’ U.S. setup fees ($1972) would be $1879 CAD. Assuming $3 royalties (10%, which is woefully low but perhaps the author above was permitted to choose his own royalty) on a $30 list price, an author would have to sell around 626 copies to break even. The number quoted in the article was 394.

Because of the convoluted information given on some POD publishers’ websites, I gave each publisher the benefit of the doubt and the best possible scenario. BookLocker.com still came out on top.

Please see the current numbers and breakdowns here:
SELF-PUBLISHING? – How Many Book Sales Needed to Recoup Your Investment?