“Basement Boys” is to be the first novel addressed to a teenage audience. Jakub Ćwiek, together with the Pulp Books publishing house, decided on an unusual form of sales. Although the book will be released in June, pre-sale has already started. Ćwiek’s fans can buy his latest novel as an e-book, audiobook or, traditionally, in paperback. And now the best part – you pay, dearest reader, (almost) as much as you want.
Jakub Ćwiek sells a new book at a “whatever” price
Each format of “Basement Boys” has its minimum price. In the case of e-book and audiobook it is (yes, yes) as much as PLN 1.20. One zloty and twenty groszy. The paper is slightly more expensive because it has a minimum price of PLN 10.
We decided to do an experiment and give it away for as much as you decide to pay for it. There is no catch here – encourages Jakub Ćwiek.
There is no maximum price. On the publisher’s website you can track the progress, whether the book you bought in pre-order has already started earning money or whether it is still a bit off. For now, two days after the start of sales, it can be said that the campaign has been a success. During this time, with such absurdly low minimum prices, we managed to collect as much as 89%. the total costs of publishing the novel, which means that in a moment it will start earning money for itself (and the publishing house).
Jakub Ćwiek reports that there have already been people who wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and buy a dozen or so books and then sell them online at a much higher price. He also adds that for now the average price for a novel remains around the bookstore standard – i.e. PLN 40. There are also much larger payments, and there are also the lowest ones. The minimum price of each option covers only the basic issues: printing, author’s fee, remuneration for the editor, proofreader, typesetter, illustrator.
So, in fact, in such a case, although you have to pay something, from our perspective we are giving you the book for free. And just to be clear: it’s fine and we’re ok with it. That’s what we agreed, giving you the decision on how much you decide to spend on “Basement Boys”. We believe that, whenever possible, financial issues should not stand in the way of cool stories – adds Ćwiek.
Smaller publishing houses look for non-standard forms of sales
The minimum minimum price and no maximum price are just one of the various options that have been tested in recent years by smaller publishing houses that cannot always afford to sell in large, chain bookstores. Book subscriptions are popular – both paper and virtual. Novels can sometimes be purchased in packages grouped according to author, genre, setting, or even cover color. With declining sales of any books and stagnant readership, it can be safely said that any method to encourage people to buy is good.
All the more so because in recent years the prices of paper and books in Poland have reached a very high level. For some time now, there has been more and more bold talk about proposals to introduce the so-called a fixed price of the book, which would be maintained, for example, for a year from its publication, and only then could it be subject to fluctuations in bookstores and publishing houses. And discounts, which now mean that the same book can cost PLN 35 and PLN 60. A fixed book price could protect small publishing houses that lose out on costs when compared to large publishing houses focused on, for example, popular culture, as well as online and online sales. The Parliament has not dealt with this issue since at least 2017, and the prices of books only increase with each passing year.
