Hastings House & Us

PRINT ON DEMAND (POD)

PRINT ON DEMAND...and how we use it.

Maturing of the print-on-demand technology offers Hastings House another opportunity to thrive in a model that makes sense economically on several levels. Hastings House uses this new technology to achieve better economies of scale that will allow for robust growth, reduction in overhead and warehousing expenses, and a more effective model to bring books to the market (and back to the market for formerly OOP or OSI titles) that creates a leaner and more efficient operation.

1. Bringing Back Several Hundred Hastings House Books that are Currently OOP or OSI — Because of the history of Hastings House, there are literally hundreds of titles with nostalgic appeal. Currently, many Hastings House books sell on rare and used book sites for prices well over the original retail price. The only person that wins in this situation is the person who sold the used book. Bringing back these titles includes a marketing campaign that actively lets people know these titles are available including retail customers, bookstores, libraries, and distributors. This includes scanning several hundred older titles with no digital files.
2. Testing Demand for New Titles — Hastings House has many established authors that can command sales that necessitate a print run of 3,000, 5,000, or 10,000. In order to continue growing the Hastings House name and overall business model, new authors must be introduced to the market. Mitigating print runs with new authors allows for risk management . Instead of printing so many copies, we simply flip the books into BookSurge's system where runs can be ordered in quantities as few as one. Some authors would be better suited for runs of 300, 500, or even 1,000. This frees up capital that otherwise would have been used in the initial outlay of a larger run. In order to market these new authors, it will be the key to have this capital available. We know how much it costs to print the larger runs, but what can never be quantified is the opportunity cost of the initial cash outlay for books that may or may not sell.
3. Forwarding Orders Directly to BookSurge for International Fulfillment — We all know that bookstores borrow books on consignment and that it can take distributors forever to pay. Hastings House can forward these orders to BookSurge where there are no returns and all books are prepaid. This means that Hastings House is paid monthly. Hastings House has a reputation for excellent books that readers want. Bookstores and distributors do not care what the manufacturing process is for a book as long as they can get it to the reader and still make some money. Allowing BookSurge to distribute a variety of Hastings House titles can free us from the frustration and energy that are often experienced in the traditional industry model.
4. Drop Shipment of Domestic and International Orders — BookSurge is well positioned to fulfill global orders to all channels with facilities in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Australia, making it easier to get books to customers quickly without warehousing and shipping expenses. With the ability to fulfill a single book, it can be printed and shipped to the customer at the facility closest to their destination.

PROPOSAL FOR HASTINGS HOUSE BACKLIST TITLES:

The purpose of this proposal is to make Out of Stock and Out of Print titles available for sale in an inventory-free environment. We suggest a managed systematic approach to upload titles identified by the following sources as having market potential so as to minimize the cost while producing a postive incremental cash flow to us:

• Amazon.com
• Baker & Taylor
• Harvesthouse.com
• Bookfinders.com
• etc., and available Catalogs since 1936.

There are approximately 3,000 titles on the Hastings House backlist. Some of these titles are assumed to be no longer valid for printed versions. We will use as an estimate a net of 2,000 titles that would be appropriate for this inventory-free fulfillment program.

Process: BookSurge and Hastings House

1. Hastings House needs to prioritize with BookSurge, by title, a list of books which we feel have the best marketability potential.
2. Hastings House will send to BookSurge any files, CDs, or hard copies which may help in the uploading of files into the BookSurge system.

Investment: Project Management:

1. BookSurge will locate as many titles as possible to purchase and scan, at a fee to Hastings House, the cost of the book plus 15% as a management fee plus freight.
2. Of the titles checked, most appear to be available in the $20+ range plus freight. BookSurge needs two copies of each book for scanning. If it's found that the average price is less than projected through tracking, the difference will be credited toward title upload fees.
3. For this management fee (15%), BookSurge will:

• Acquire the titles.
• scan the books.
• create the print files.
• design a cover template which is unique to Hastings House to be used on all books.
• produce a hard copy proof of the title.
• prepare the appropriate meta data.
• prepare the "search inside the book" mechanisms to enhance sales.

Investment: File Integration:

1. Option A. As an adjunct to the project management workflow, a reduced price of the file integration fee will be $15 per title. This can be financed in blocks of 100 titles ($1,500) until all applicable titles have been uploaded.
2. Option B. In lieu of upload fees (Option A), BookSurge would pay Hastings House a royalty of 10% of each title until 100 copies of the book have been sold. At that point, the title would convert to a 30% net fee to Hastings House. (Note: BookSurge is contemplating changing its royalty structure. The 30% would be a minimum. Royalties may well exceed the current 30% model.)

Peter Leers,

Publisher

PERMISSIONS

PERMISSIONS

Seeking reprint or use permissions for any of Hastings House's hundreds of publications? Avail yourself of our Print-On-Demand technology? Please contact Dee Leers: E-mail, Phone 1-800-206-7822, or regular mail to P.O. Box 908, Winter Park, FL, 32790-0908. You can download descriptions of currently available titles by clicking on the links below. 

Current Titles

Daytrips Books

Samples of Permissions Granted, this one to Tenth Planet Telegraph
Another from the same site.

Tenth Planet Telegraph Home Page.

A publishing agreement from Hastings House normally contains information on four or five items:

• Rights and Exclusivity
• Pricing and Royalties
• Warranties and Indemnities
• Termination Clause
• The Actual Services Provided

RIGHTS & EXCLUSIVITY:

Most POD companies take only a non-exclusive right to produce and distribute your book. This means you grant them the right to make and sell your book.

This is quite revolutionary and not all POD companies follow this model. Traditionally, publishers invested a lot of time in editing, book production, printing and marketing, so they expected the author to allow them the exclusive right to produce the book.

Thank you,

Peter Leers, Publisher