Fixed Prices are Not What They Seem
Although the people I worked with formatting were very nice, some of the information from the initial sales person I had in the end did not line up with what I was told. My book is a memoir and a history book of art in my city and so I conveyed that it would have a lot of photos. The initial price I was quoted by the sales person was $1200 plus $5-$7 per book. This jumped to an additional $1200 and $10 per book and $1600. shipping. Initially I was told that the book was printed in Dallas, but when I said that I would drive to Dallas and save the shipping cost, all of a sudden it was shipped from Mexico and I would still have to pay for shipping even if I drove to Dallas, TX. Eventually, we negotiated a shipping cost that cut $500 and the hardback books ended up costing $8.50 per book. But, I still had to pay twice what I was quoted because it was considered a "picture book". I just think that when a person is quoted a price, more time should be spent on what kind of book the author envisions. This felt more like I was that Bad American trying to get a better price and bargaining with a street salesman! I'm thankful for the price coming down to a reasonable rate, but I felt like I had to fight to get it there and it shouldn't have to be that hard.








