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How to publish a book that is affordable?

In our newest “how can we help you?” thread, a reader asks:

I’d like to publish a book but not if it’s priced such that few will purchase it. Are there options that will ensure my book is priced at a more reasonable rate? Also: the book project I’m working on is on the short side (probably 50k words or less). I don’t think it will be a good fit for the Cambridge Elements or ‘Why it’s okay’ series… does this mean I’m SOL?

I don’t know much about this aside from having the general impression that publishers appear to make books pitched toward academics expensive and books pitched more toward a general audience less expensive. As some noted in the previous thread on the future of book publishing, this may be because publishers expect academic books to mainly sell to libraries.

Do any readers have helpful insights to share?

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10 responses to “How to publish a book that is affordable?”

  1. h

    I assumed that academic books are generally priced so high because of a low demand with a fairly low elasticity of demand–in other words, there’s only a few people (or libraries) that will buy it and they will buy it even if it’s at a high price. Lowering the price doesn’t lead to enough additional sales to justify that lower price. When a book is aimed at a general audience, you have higher demand with a higher elasticity, so you would charge lower prices to get the best return. So perhaps highly specialized, inexpensive books don’t often make economic sense.

    If you want to publish a lower-cost book, I think you have two options: First, don’t expect any money for all your work and do something like open access or self-publish as a labor of love. Second, reach outside the academic audience through a traditional book publisher or small press. This requires a whole separate skillset then what we learn in academics, including having a good handle on marketing.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous

    My institution has funds to pay for publishing open access academic books; you might look into what your institution provides. Of course you’re giving up on making any money/profit, but you’re maximizing the ease with which people can access and potentially read your book. Even the “top” publishers (e.g., Oxford University Press) have such options if your institution will pay for it.

    As far as “short” books go, I have seen some regular academic presses publish “short” books that are not part of a special “short book series” but in the cases I can think of offhand they’re by established authors, who are well known academically and published regular length books first.

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  3. Anonymous

    I am a bit perplexed by what the prospective-author aims to achieve. If they are committed to open access, that is one thing. If they are imaging reaching a larger audience, one beyond the academy, then the relevant consideration is whether one wants to publish a trade book. If the latter is the case, then one might want to get an agent. The few philosophers I know who have pursued this path successfully work with agents. But, if one’s audience really is academic, then I do not know why they seek to publish open access. If you work with a good publisher, you can and will get royalties. I expect a few thousand dollars per book in royalties ($ 2000 – $ 5000). With open access publishing you get none of that. In fact, you have to somehow get the money to pay for open access, a non-trivial task.

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      OP here: What I want to achieve is dissemination among professional philosophers. I’m quite green when it comes to book publishing and am worried about the scenario where I sink more years into this project, publish as a book, which then is purchased by only a few libraries and thus read by almost no one. Perhaps this is unreasonable to expect, but that’s one thing I’m trying to avoid. I’m surprised to hear royalties are in the 2k-5k range. Either way, thank you for your input.

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        Is your surprise at 2k-5k because it is (i) so low, or (ii) so high? Serious question 🙂

      2. Anonymous

        OP Again: I am surprised at $2k-5k royalties because I assumed royalties for academic philosophy books were in the $100s, not the low thousands! I wonder if $2k-5k is typical, or is this something only those more established can reasonably expect.

  4. Anonymous

    I think there are reasons beyond commitment to open access at play here. There are some volumes that are priced so expensively that for all intents and purposes the book only exists as a line on the author’s CV. (Springer is especially guilty of this with books well north of $100). Having a book that is reasonably priced (even if not free) is definitely relevant to getting your work read.

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  5. Anonymous

    OP, you have the right instincts. I recently published a book with a major press, but it’s priced obscenely high, and is unlikely to be purchased by anyone except a library unless and until a more affordable paperback edition is released. It will definitely affect readership in a negative way. At the time my contract was issued, I accepted this as a condition of publishing with a reputable press, which is instrumentally valuable at this stage of my career. But it really bothers me now and will influence how I approach securing the contract for my next book project.

    Also, FWIW, I’m not sure thousands of dollars in royalties is in the cards for most of us. I just got my royalty statement from 2025, and the amount is more akin to Jerry’s royalty checks from “The Super Terrific Happy Hour” on Seinfeld.

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      OP here: Thanks for sharing your experience. Yes, I’m worried about this exact scenario. I don’t expect much in way of royalties, so I’m now thinking Open Access would be my best plan of action… assuming I can get university or grant funds to cover the fees.

      Reply
  6. Mike Titelbaum

    When a book manuscript is accepted by an academic publisher, you can negotiate things in your contract like what the price of the book is going to be and how soon it will come out in paperback. Unfortunately, like any negotiation, concessions require leverage. So you’re either going to need your book to be a hot commodity for some reason, or you’re going to have to create a bidding war between multiple publishers. Maybe submit to multiple publishers at once, then if more than one bites you can play them off each other for pricing?

    Reply

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