Here’s a financial analysis for self-publishers of what’s involved in selling an edocument and ebook using Scribd. This analysis will show you how much money you will get for each book that you sell on Scribd’s website. This’ll also help you understand how Scribd takes their cut of your edocument’s and ebook’s cover price, and what money you end up getting.
An edocument is simply a short PDF document that contains information that you want to share. An ebook, in this example, is a full book formatted as a PDF. Both are basically the same type of electronic publication – just one is very short, and the other is a book. Technically, they are both PDF documents. The terms “edocument” and “ebook” are simply generic terms for “electronic publication”.
As a self-publisher, you’ll be selling your ebook in the “PDF format”, and in the “epub format”. But at this moment, Scribd will only sell your publications in PDF format. Scribd is considered to be an “electronic document sharing service”. Other websites, such as Smashwords and BookBaby can handle your electronic publications in the epub format. These two sites are considered “ebook distribution services”.
The document and book in this analysis are actual publications that my company publishes. I picked two publications that are different in size, page count, and cover price. This analysis does not take into account any other expenses for these books, such as for marketing, writing, advertising, etc. Also, this analysis does not take into account any other sources of income that can be derived from these publications.
Publication 1
Dickson Keanaghan Catalog Sell Sheet For ACLS Zombie Notes
-ISBN: 978-1-933230-36-8 ebook
-Title: Zombie Notes: ACLS Certification Exam Prep.
-Pages: 2
-Size: 11.0” x 8.5”
-Cover price (set by me): $4.99
-Consignment fee (set by Scribd): 20%
[$4.99 x 0.20 = $1.00]
-Amount I get from each Scribd sale: $3.99
[$4.99 – $1.00 = $3.99]
-Transaction fee (set by Scribd): $0.25
-Net publisher compensation
(the final amount that I get from Scribd): $3.74
[$3.99 – $0.25 = $3.74]
–I end up with 75% of the cover price
[$3.74 / $4.99] = 0.749 = 75%
Publication 2
The Science of Getting Rich
-ISBN: 978-1-933230-23-8 ebook
-Title: The Art of Getting Rich
-Pages: 144
-Size: 8.5” x 5.5”
-Cover price (set by me): $6.99
-Consignment fee (set by Scribd): 20%
[$6.99 x 0.20 = $1.40]
-Amount I get from each Scribd sale: $5.59
[$6.99 – $1.40 = $5.59]
-Transaction fee (Scribd fee): $0.25
-Net publisher compensation
(the final amount that I get from Scribd): $5.34
[$5.59 – $0.25 = $5.34]
–I end up with 76% of the cover price
[$5.34 / $6.99] = 0.764 = 76%
