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SPD has annual fees, listing fees, doesn't label paid adverts (the handpicked section costs publishers $), gives higher royalties to presses who make > $10k, undercuts presses (intentionally or not) by offering better consignment prices to bookstores, do i have to keep going https://twitter.com/incastellated/status/1336779763675967489
its not a secret that many presses lose money having their books at distros. SPD takes 50% of NET SALES (profit - cost), which meant that presses who priced their books at reasonable rates ($10-$12) lost money on each sale (warning: incoming math in subsequent post)
Example from a book i pubbed in 2016:
• SPD sells a $10 book to bookstore for $6
• SPD splits 50% royalty with presses = $3
Est. cost per book on a 200 print run: $3.06 (cheapest possible perfect bound option)
• SPD sells a $10 book to bookstore for $6
• SPD splits 50% royalty with presses = $3
Est. cost per book on a 200 print run: $3.06 (cheapest possible perfect bound option)
none of these practices are inherently SPD's fault--Amazon has created a monopoly on publishing that favors folks with low overhead (aka big presses), so there are trickle-down consequences on every segment of ppl who likes books, and it's borderline impossible to change this rn
but! it points to the bigger issue at play here, which is that for all the 'good' SPD aspires to do, their business practices neglect to consider the material conditions of their employees, customers, and publishing partners. it's just more capitalism bbs, which (ICYMI) is bad.
Ask the publishers of any month's #7-15 poetry bestsellers how many copies they sold, bc this list is a comically hilarious example of how deeply invested we (as an arts community) are in replicating capitalistic 'success' models. https://twitter.com/colettearrand/status/1336793542358945793
