Inflation

An unfortunate economic reality is that when the price of production increases, prices passed on to the consumer must also naturally increase.  As unfair as that sounds, I know of literally no one in business that is nice enough to just eat the new expenses.  After all, they have a profit margin to maintain, for as great as it is to write, one must also put food on the table, so breaking even just isn’t an option.  Selling books entails (hopefully) making a profit.  It may not be an extravagant profit, but it still need to be above what you paid for production.

I bring this up because one of my imprints has just raised the cost of production by 6%.  No, it’s not a lot, but it still eats into what was already a slim profit margin.  That’s going to dictate either an across the board increase in the prices you have to pay for my work, or I’ll have to cut ties with the imprint.

Honestly, I wish I could just cut ties, but I sell a reasonable number of books through this imprint, and my lack of general fame does not enable me to reduce my distribution channels.  It also means that I’ll likely have to raise prices in other places my books are sold so as to reduce disparity and maintain consistency for the public, although, admittedly, I haven’t fully decided on that yet.  I’m still analyzing the situation.  However, I only have until the beginning of November to make that decision.

Sorry for the basic lesson in economics, but I wanted y’all to know what the deal was when you saw my prices go up.  For the pair of you that are loyal readers, I hope you’ll continue to patronize my work and not let the extra buck or so bankrupt you.  :-P