PNWLL Press sells all volumes at the cost of production. We do not charge extra fees, and we do not profit from the sale of books. Our goal is to keep costs as low as possible, as part of our mission is to make high-quality language documentation accessible (see our about page).
Because we sell books for the price it costs to make them, prices sometimes vary. The purpose of this web page is to explain exactly how we price our books, for the sake of transparency.
The PNWLL Pricing Formula
PNWLL Press sells all physical books at the cost of production. The cost of production has two parts: (i) the cost of printing and (ii) operating costs.
cost of production = ⌈cost of printing + operating costs⌉
For any volume, cost of printing covers expenses associated with creating physical paperback books. Operating costs cover expenses associated with making the volume in the first place, such as paying cover artists and providing authors and speakers with free books. The resulting sum is rounded to the nearest whole number.
To maximize access, digital files (audio and PDFs) are available to download for free.
Cost of printing
We have worked with multiple printers in the past few years, each of which has their own pricing model. Our current printing partner is East Van Graphics (EVG): a Vancouver-based digital print shop which offers affordable, high-quality printing and perfect binding for small book runs of ~10-500 copies. Working with EVG has allowed us to nearly halve the prices of our larger volumes without sacrificing print quality. We’ve passed on those savings to our customers by reducing prices accordingly.
The printing cost per book depends on how many books we print at once. For instance, printing ten copies of Sptakwlh múta7 sqwéqwel’: St̕át̕imcets Narratives by Qwa7yán’ak (Carl Alexander) Volume II without any colored pages costs about $25/book. Printing 25 copies of the same volume costs about $20/book, and printing 100 triggers a discount, which reduces prices to $14/book. For precise details on printing costs, see the pricing calculator on EVG’s perfect binding service page.
Printing costs may also vary based on the cost of materials, e.g. if paper prices increase significantly, so too does the cost of producing books. Rising material costs have impacted book prices in the past, and may cause price fluctuations in the future.
Because printing costs vary, so do our prices. Books sold directly on our website are priced based on 25-unit print runs, since this is the rate at which we can reliably afford to restock volumes. For large orders (greater than 25), please contact us directly via email, at pnwll.press@ubc.ca, so we can give you a larger discount. Tell us how many books you’d like to order, and we’ll ask our printers for an estimate so we can price the books accordingly.
Operating costs
On top of the cost of printing, we charge an extra 10% to cover other operating costs. This fee is necessary to cover the expenses of running PNWLL Press.
Our biggest operating cost involves inventory: to sell physical books in-person, we must print them ahead of time. Many of our sales come from events, such as language gatherings or academic conferences. This would be impossible if we had no cash on hand; if all books were printed to order, we could only sell them online. Such a model would also significantly increase printing costs, since bigger orders are cheaper per-unit.
Other operating expenses involve the actual publication process. Whenever possible, we commission artists from the relevant Indigenous speech community to design our covers. We also gift free copies to the speakers and authors directly involved in the production process. These expenses are covered by the operating fee.
Finally, there are many one-time operating expenses related to internal logistics, such as delivering books and physical academic materials from one university to another, or renting a vehicle and skid lifter for moving a particularly large bulk order of books. These expenses can be sudden, and quite high. To cover them, it is important we have some cash on hand.
This operating fee is necessary for running PNWLL Press as an organization, and every cent of it is reinvested into making high-quality language documentation as accessible as possible.
Taxes and Tax Discounts
For each sale, PNWLL Press must pay taxes to the government, i.e. a 5% Goods and Services Tax (GST) to the nation of Canada and a 7% Provincial Sales Tax (PST) to the province of British Columbia. Sales tax is charged by default on each online order.
Some orders made by First Nations customers may be eligible for tax exemption. For sales to individuals, we will need your status card resignation number or your band name and number. For sales to bands, we only need your band name and number. For details, please contact us directly via email, at pnwll.press@ubc.ca.
Volunteer Labour
PNWLL Press is entirely volunteer-run. It is currently managed and operated by unpaid graduate student volunteers at the University of British Columbia.
To support PNWLL Press in making high-quality language documentation accessible, you can order a print volume or make a donation.
Reselling Books
Because we sell books at the cost of production, we cannot offer a resellers discount to booksellers beyond the discount we already offer for bulk orders (>25). Booksellers are welcome to stock PNWLL’s books and mark-up the cover price to cover their costs. If interested, please contact us via email, at pnwll.press@ubc.ca.