Drivethru RPG raises Print-on-demand prices starting April 1st
Drivethru RPG raises Print-on-demand prices starting April 1st
Upcoming Print-on-Demand Book Price Changes – Effective April 1, 2025
We always want to keep print costs as low as possible, and it has been years since we passed any price increases through to our publishing partners.
However, our print supplier, Lightning Source/Ingram, has announced a price adjustment starting April 1, 2025, that will be reflected on DriveThru sites.
Key Changes
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Due to increasing supply costs in the US, Black & White print costs in the US will increase significantly, from around 20% for low-pagecount hardcover titles up to about 50% or slightly more for large hardcover books, and with softcover titles seeing an even greater increase.
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UK print costs for Black & White books will also increase, but generally only by 3-4%.
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Standard Color print costs will increase, by roughly 12-13% for US printing but only around 3% for UK printing.
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On the whole, Premium Color print costs will decrease slightly for US printing but increase slightly for UK printing.
Example 1: A 180-page large premium hardcover currently costs $32.10 to print in the US; after April 1, that same title will drop to $27.80.
Example 2: In the UK, the same 180-page book currently costs £20.23, which will increase to £20.93 starting in April.
...i've been disappointed with the print quality of most of their POD books since last year: it's like someone isn't monitoring the ink levels and one of the CMYK colors almost always looks washed out...
Agreed, I've noticed the same thing with even hardcover orders from them.
OK, I'm not understanding a word of this.
- Black & White print costs in the US will increase significantly
- Standard Color print costs will increase, by roughly 12-13% for US printing
- On the whole, Premium Color print costs will decrease slightly for US printing
OK, so print costs will increase, but print costs will decrease for the US. Clear as mud. Maybe the example will help:
- A 180-page large premium hardcover currently costs $32.10 to print in the US; after April 1, that same title will drop to $27.80.
Nope. Gets even more confusing.
Did nobody copy edit this? Or is a nearly 15% drop "slight" in USAnian?
It's worse than that. The original announcements said a 75% increase but the math didn't add up. I'd just be aware that soon prices will likely increase.