Calculate Your Way to Higher Profits: How PublishDrive's Book Sales Calculator Works

There may be some who question why PublishDrive has opted for a subscription-based model, particularly when most of the publishing industry works based on royalty share.

The short answer: because it’s more profitable for authors and publishers.

There's a tipping point at which the flat-fee model offers more profit than revenue share if you sell many books.

What's the catch with revenue share? Most aggregators take an extra 10-30% on top of store cuts, leaving you with fewer royalties.

To give you a hands-on demonstration of why the subscription model is better and more profitable for those who have a large catalog and sell many books, we’ve created the book sales calculator – a free tool for those who want a transparent view of their potential earnings.

What Is PublishDrive’s Book Sales Calculator?

Our calculator breaks down the difference in royalties between revenue share and subscription platforms based on the number of books you sell. It's a practical guide that shows you the potential for higher royalties when switching to a flat-fee subscription model.

Who's This Calculator Meant For?

If you're a self-published author or indie publisher trying to figure out the best business move, having some extra help to make a profitable decision is essential.

Our book sales calculator will help you understand the difference between a subscription and a royalty-share model.

We want to be transparent from the beginning: for those who have published one or two books and don’t expect to sell that many copies in a year, the better option is to go with a royalty share model.

PublishDrive works best for authorpreneurs who sell a large number of copies or for publishers who have an extensive catalog.

How Does the Book Sales Calculator Work

The process is as simple as it gets.

All you need to do is enter your ebook catalog size, average ebook list price, and the expected number of copies to be sold for all titles in a year.

Let’s say you have six titles, the average title price is $2.99, and you expect to sell 5,000 copies/ year.

Under Draft2Digital’s model, which takes 10% of your sales, you earn around $8,970 a year. Under IngramSpark’s 30% revenue share, you earn even less – around $5,980. But, with PublishDrive, you earn about $10,213 a year.

In this same example, if you sell 50,000 books a year, giving up that extra 10% fee will cost you $14,950. With PublishDrive’s flat fee, that’s reduced to $251.

The results show the revenue you’d make in a year, the stores’ cut, and how much is an aggregator’s share, or in PublishDrive’s case, how much the flat-fee will cost you per year.

In case PublishDrive is the best option for you, the book sales calculator will also suggest a subscription plan perfect for your publishing and distribution needs.

Conclusion

The book sales calculator provides authors and publishers with a valuable tool to assess their potential earnings under different distribution models.

By inputting key details such as catalog size, average list price, and expected sales volume, you can see a clear comparison between revenue share and subscription models.

Go ahead and try the book sales calculator and see which option is best for you.

Try the book sales calculator