POD Pricing: Ethical Issues?

[David Artman]

Damned Internal Server errors....

Hi, all;

This one's for the POD publishers and ethics pundits in general....

I am hoping to release the full GLASS rules via POD ("shot GLASS" will be a rule-only player book that's a free PDF).

I am considering one of the following pricing strategies, to encourage game stores to buy books to resell them:
* Set the POD price at ~20% less than the MSRP printed on the book (and in the bar code, if I include one)--"wholesale via POD".
* Offer a POD price for 5 or more that is ~20% less than the single copy POD price--"bulk discount via POD".

My questions are, basically:
1) Are either of those option even possible with POD providers; will they do it?
2) Is there any ethical issue with either method (really more concerned about the first one; bulk discounts are fairly common and accepted).

Thanks;
David

[xenopulse]

Hi David,

Usually POD places let you set any price you want for your game, but few let you differentiate between regular customers and retailers.  Places like Lulu have discounts for 26+ copies, but no retailer is going to order that many.  What you can do is set up a separate listing for it that's direct access only (cannot be found through searching) and give the direct access code to retailers. That means you'll have to do a bunch of work by hand, though.  I also wouldn't give them a minimum order; some of them might want to try one or two copies first, and you don't want to discourage that. Anytime you've got your indie book on a retail shelf is added exposure.

I don't see an ethical issue at all.  Most retailers will expect more than 20% off, though. 40-50% are pretty standard.

[Eero Tuovinen]

I do a small hobby retail, and I deal with POD publishers routinely. The way we do it is that I pay the designer, and he orders the books from the POD printer and gives them the mailing address to me. So I don't have to deal with the printer at all, and nobody has to worry about their automated logistical system.

Man, this reminds me: I'll have to get some more Covenant, I'm all out. Good of you to bring this up.