DriveThruRPG Print-on-Demand Prices Going Up By As Much As 50% In The US

DriveThruRPG has notified creators that the costs of its print-on-demand books will be increasing significantly. The price increase has been attributed to increasing supply costs in the US. The price increase comes into effect on April 1st, and mainly affects books produced in the US.

• Black-and-white hardcover books will increase from 20%-50% in the US, depending on the size of the book, but only 3-4% in the UK.
• Black-and-white softcover books will see an even greater increase in the US.
• Standard color books will increase by 12%-13% in the US, but only 3% in the UK.
• Premium color books will decrease slightly in the US but increase slightly in the UK.

DTRPG uses Lightning Source as its printing partner, which has a printing facility in the US and in the UK.

Here are some examples of how much books will now cost to print in the US:

Black-and-white:

• 100-page black-and-white hardcover will increase from $8.60 to $11.14.
• 300-page black-and-white hardcover will increase from $13.08 to $19.04.
• 100-page black-and-white softcover will increase from $3.76 to $5.69.
• 300-page black and white softcover will increase from $8.32 to $13.73.

Standard Color:

• 100-page standard color hardcover will increase from $11.90 to $13.45.
• 300-page standard color hardcover will increase from $22.98 to $25.97.
• 100-page standard color softcover will increase from $7.13 to $8.05.
• 300-page standard color softcover will increase from $18.43 to $20.81.

Premium Color:

• 100-page premium color hardcover will decrease from $20.05 to $19.
• 300-page premium color hardcover will decrease from $49.50 to $41.
• 100-page premium color softcover will decrease from $15.87 to $13.75.
• 300-page premium color softcover will decrease from $44.87 to $35.75.

Due to increasing supply costs in the US, Black & White print costs in the US will increase significantly, from around 20% for low-pagecount hardcover titles up to about 50% or slightly more for large hardcover books, and with softcover titles seeing an even greater increase.

UK print costs for Black & White books will also increase, but only by 3-4%.

Standard Color print costs will increase by roughly 12-13% for US printing but only around 3% for UK printing.

On the whole, Premium Color print costs will decrease slightly for US printing but increase slightly for UK printing.

• Example 1: A 180-page large premium hardcover currently costs $32.10 to print in the US; after April 1, that same title will drop to $27.80.
• Example 2: In the UK, the same 180-page book currently costs £20.23, which will increase to £20.93 starting in April.

While this directly affects customers in the US, it also has a potentially disastrous effect on those who are currently running Kickstarters which are fulfilling via DTRPG after April 1st, as the printing costs of their books will be significantly more than budgeted for in the Kickstarter. With the price of a print-on-demand print run increasing by as much as 50%, this could cause some crowdfunders to actually lose money, depending on their margins.

 

[Professor Murder]

Basically all Geek hobbies are going to be hit with a sack of doorknobs. Hard to discuss the reality of any of this without it becoming intensely political. Simply put, domestic production doesn't exist to work around tariffs in a meaningful way immediately. It would take time and investment. So the end consumer, us, will have to make calculations as to purchases. If you budgeted say $250 for all gaming purchases over 2025 (a made up number), and previously that could be 6-10 purchases, now it will be 3-6 for the year. And since many likely will have to reduce their games budget due to larger concerns like food, utilities and housing, keep trending that number down. Hard to say whom this will most hurt. Might be that people will just make a couple big purchases. Might be people will aim smaller and hold off on big buys till things change.

 

[Ulfgeir]

US-Based kickstarters are already increadibly expensive for us Europeans due to shipping and VAT + and import fees to Europe (and Brexit effed things up a lot as a lot of the distribution centers for Europe are in the UK). So I guess things now will be even more expensive because the components first gets tariffed when entering the US, and then sent from there...

 

[Morrus]

US-Based kickstarters are already increadibly expensive for us Europeans due to shipping and VAT + and import fees to Europe (and Brexit effed things up a lot as a lot of the distribution centers for Europe are in the UK). So I guess things now will be even more expensive because the components first gets tariffed when entering the US, and then sent from there...

DTRPG prints and ships from the UK for Europe, so for these books at least it won’t matter much. Yet.

And a lot of TTRPG Kickstarters bound for Europe are printed in the EU or China.

 

[Ulfgeir]

DTRPG prints and ships from the UK for Europe, so for these books at least it won’t matter much. Yet.

And a lot of TTRPG Kickstarters bound for Europe are printed in the EU or China.

I think the important part there is the "Yet"-part.

But a lot of kickstarters (especially boardgames) have parts made in China, and I do not expect them to differentiate between those that will be shipped directly from China to Europe vs those that go the US and then forwarded here. Also I know that cards for games at DTRPG are usually printed in the US.

 

[Alzrius]

The issue of shelf space has left me hesitating for some time to buy more paper products...well, no, that's a lie; I've still been buying them, and treating the shelf space problem as an afterthought. So I suppose the print prices being raised next month is even more reason to ignore the logistics of storage and buy now!

 

[Morrus]

I think the important part there is the "Yet"-part.

That’s why I put it there!

But a lot of kickstarters (especially boardgames) have parts made in China, and I do not expect them to differentiate between those that will be shipped directly from China to Europe vs those that go the US and then forwarded here. Also I know that cards for games at DTRPG are usually printed in the US.

It’s from point of manufacture. So where the printer is. That’s why you can’t circumvent tariffs by shipping to a third country first. There’s a whole paper trail every step of the way; customs forms are complicated and a PITA. They figured that out long ago when they first invented tariffs!

And yes, DTRPG has book printers in the US and UK, but they print cards only in the US.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

It’s from point of manufacture. So where the printer is. That’s why you can’t circumvent tariffs by shipping to a third country first. There’s a whole paper trail every step of the way; customs forms are complicated and a PITA. They figured that out long ago when they first invented tariffs!

Raises some amusing hypothetical prospects, though. Who wants to do an indie RPG where the player characters are smuggling Chinese game components into the US, Mexican drug cartels start making cheap knock-off meeples, and college kids make runs to Canada to load up on tiny plastic trains and resource cubes?

Or flip it and play the anti-gaming tariff enforcement patrol on the border.

"Look at this! There's baggies of meeples hidden in the cocaine!"
"Those monsters!"

 

[Cergorach]

I'm sure it is all complicated, but I assumed paper . . . maybe books are printed in the US, but paper (and other supplies) are imported.

Let's not forget the printers themselves. They are not only paying off the current investment in printers, but also need to prepare for the replacement printers eventually.

And a lot of TTRPG Kickstarters bound for Europe are printed in the EU or China.

Depends on the US company, many are or have been very US centric and pretty much first import into the US and then ship to the customers in Europe and let them deal with customs and VAT. Those kinds of companies/KS will need to change drastically or will get hurt badly. This was worse a few years ago, especially pre-pandemic.

 

[The Soloist]

This might push Free League (and other companies) to set up a hub in Canada, which would be great because I no longer participate in their KS because shipping and duty from the US are too steep.

 

[Morrus]

This might push Free League (and other companies) to set up a hub in Canada, which would be great because I no longer participate in their KS because shipping and duty from the US are too steep.

Does Free League print in the US? I thought they used Standartu in Lithuania.