Community Priced Pre-Pubs—You Set the Price!
We know that you want lots of electronic books in the Libronix Digital Library System format. We have limited resources for typing and processing books, though, and it can be hard to price and prioritize individual titles.
The new Community Pricing Program gives you a direct influence on the priorities and price for new products! In a nutshell, you decide which books we produce...and what price you'll pay!
Get started now! To participate in our Community Pricing Program, simply view the available titles and place a pre-order at the maximum price you would pay for a title. When enough orders are received to cover production costs we will enter your order at the lowest price that covers costs.
Read About the Program: Publishing By Numbers | Important Points | How it Works | FAQ | Get Started!
Publishing By Numbers
If it costs $4,000 to produce an electronic edition of a book, the costs can be covered by 4 people paying $1,000 each or by 1,000 people paying $4 each. The more likely scenario, though, is that no one wants to pay $1,000 and there aren’t 1,000 people interested in the title, even at $4. But there may be 200 people who would pay $20 each.
Community Pricing is about finding the lowest price that covers the production costs.
We have asked our customers “What is the most you would pay for an electronic edition of this title?” By multiplying the number of customers who would pay a specific amount or more with that price, we are able to generate a chart showing estimated revenue for the product at each price point.
If you like working with numbers and want all the details, click here.
A Closer Look at the Numbers
 Let's take a closer look at the numbers corresponding to the chart above. The calculation here is "Number of Customer Orders x Price Customers Would Pay = Estimated Revenue".
A total of 287 people would pay $8 or more, resulting in the maximum projected revenue for this title.
287 x $8 = $2,296
Setting the price at $6 would also sell enough copies to cover the $1,900 production cost. (We pick up the 42 people who set a maximum price of $6, added to the 287 who set a maximum of $8 or more, for a total of 329.) This is the lowest price that would still cover costs!
Raising the price to $10 would actually generate less revenue since only 161 people are willing to pay that much for the title.
161 x $10 = $1,610
In the same way, lowering the price to $4 would only attract 1 more order than $6 would receive, for a total of 330, which is not enough revenue to cover the production cost.
330 x $4 = $1,320
With Community Pricing, you pay the lowest price that covers production costs. In the example above, Logos would enter your order at the $6 price, even though the $8 price would generate more revenue.
Remember, the goal is to make as many books available for the Libronix DLS as possible, as quickly as possible, at the best price possible!
Important Points
Everyone pays the same price. Regardless of the maximum price you would pay for a title, when that title covers its production costs all of the Community Pricing orders will be entered at the same best price.
The more interest in a title, the lower its price. You can help lower the price for a title by encouraging friends to place pre-orders for it, even at low prices. The Logos customer base is large enough that if everyone would pay as little as $5 or $10 almost any title could be produced.
You can cancel your pre-order any time before you are charged. You can change your maximum price at any time before the best price is established. When there are enough pre-orders to cover production costs, the best price will be established and the title will be promoted to "Under Development" status. You will receive email notification of the best price and this change in status and you may cancel your pre-order at that time if you choose to. At any time, you can also consult the list of all Community Priced pre-pub orders you've placed.
How it Works
- Enable Easy Ordering for your web account. (Easy Ordering must be enabled in order to place bids.)
- Review the list of candidate books. Place pre-orders by selecting the maximum price you would pay for the titles you are interested in.
- Watch the real-time chart for the titles. When any point on the revenue curve breaks the production cost line, an email will be sent to everyone who placed a pre-order for that title. The email will announce that costs have been covered and specify the best price. You will be notified at this time if your pre-order is below the best price. New pre-orders can still be placed and existing pre-orders can still be changed at this time, so the price could go even lower!
- On the next Friday that is at least two days (48 hours) from the first time a title's production costs are covered, Community Pricing will end for that title and pre-orders will be confirmed at the current best price. The title will be moved to the Pre-Publication page with a status of "Under Development." This means you always have at least 48 hours after "breaking the production cost line" in which other people can see the curve and enter orders that could lower the best price even more!
- Once the title's status changes and bidding is closed, a new, higher pre-pub price will be established. This price will be advertised through the existing Logos Pre-Publication program. People who did not participate in the Community Pricing program may place orders at this higher price before the title is completed and released.
- At the time the title's status changes, an email will be sent to everyone who placed a pre-order. If you entered an order at or above the best price, the email will say that your pre-order was entered at the best price. If you entered a pre-order below the best price, the email will confirm that your pre-order was not placed and will tell you how you can order at the new pre-pub price if you choose.
Participating in Community Pricing ensures you get the best price and lets you decide which titles are produced first!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How does Logos profit from this program?
A. Logos’ production costs include a small profit and leave room for unforeseen costs in the production process. Logos will also be able to sell the title in the future after production costs are covered.
Q. Why should I enter a high price?
A. You don’t have to. You can always choose the lowest price for every title – but if there aren’t enough people interested then the title will never break the production cost line. If you want to see a title completed, the best way to make it happen sooner rather than later is to choose the true maximum price you would be willing to pay for it.
Q. Why does the production cost look the same for every title?
A. Logos does not reveal the actual production cost or number of pre-orders. The revenue curves and production cost lines are accurate, but shown at a scale where 100% of production cost is the same size on every graph.
Q. How frequently are the graphs updated?
A. Graphs are updated in real time. Press F5 to refresh the page after you place your order and you may see a corresponding change in the graph. This depends, of course, on the amount you bid (higher bids have more impact on the line) and the production cost (books with lower costs show a greater impact from each bid).
Q. What kind of books are offered through the Community Pricing Program?
A. This pre-pub model is best suited to public domain and out-of-print titles where a 'market value' for the content is difficult to establish and no licensing restrictions apply. The Community Pricing Program is a way to determine the market value for such works.
Q. Will the electronic editions of titles that come through the Community Pricing Program be any different from ordinary Logos electronic editions?
A. No, these books will be fully featured, full text electronic editions. For some titles, we will be producing the electronic edition from scans generated by our book scanner rather than from a hardcopy book...but the production process will be the same and the end result will be exactly the same as if we were working from a print copy.
Q. Are all the titles listed guaranteed to go into production?
A. No, only titles that gather enough pre-orders to meet production costs will go into production.
Q. After submitting a bid, I want to change it. Can I change my selections?
A. Absolutely. Until the title's status changes to "Under Development" you can change your bid at any time. In fact, every time you click a circle you are changing your bid in real time. The new bid effectively cancels the old bid. You can only have one bid per title at a time. The shaded circles under a graph indicates your current bid for that title. Also, you can see a list of all your current bids on the My Community Pricing Bids page.
Q. What if I bid $50 for a title, but the bid that succeeds ("best price") is $80? Can I then place an order at the $80 price?
A. Yes, so long as you place your new bid before the title's status changes to "Under Development" and it enters the normal Pre-Pub program. On the day the best price is established, you will receive an email telling you that your bid was too low and giving you the option to raise it. You will have at least two days (48 hours) to change your bid before the title moves to the Pre-Pub page at a higher price.
Q. How do I know when my pre-order will be charged?
A. Once a title receives enough pre-orders to go into production you will receive notification by email. The production process usually takes at least 4-8 weeks for any title, giving you plenty of notice before your order is charged. You can cancel your pre-order at any time during the production process.
Q. What do the notices that appear next to the book titles ("CD-ROM Only" and "Downloadable Only") mean?
A. If the title moves into production, it will eventually "ship" either on disc or as a downloadable file (there will not be a choice of medium). The notice that appears next to the title is intended to make it clear which media format will be used for each title. We prefer to deliver via download whenever possible, but in the case of large, multi-volume works we realize shipping on disc is the only feasible delivery method.
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