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.

 

[Morrus]

This is really annoying. One reason I've given my products B/W interiors is because it was so much cheaper. I really enjoyed giving my customers good books at relatively cheap prices.

One thing that puzzles me - if these price increases are tariff-related, why did B/W go up more than color? And why did premium color go down? It's peculiar.

It's still cheaper, just not as much cheaper. So you're still good to give them the b/w interiors. I don't know why one went up more than the other though!

 

[ColinChapman]

I wonder how this will impact DTRPG's PoD partner in Australia?

 

[The Soloist]

nevermind...

 

[Cergorach]

One thing that puzzles me - if these price increases are tariff-related, why did B/W go up more than color? And why did premium color go down? It's peculiar.

For B/W the paper is a larger part of the price, for color it tends to be the toner. So if paper prices spike, the product it's the biggest part of will also rise the highest. But it could also be other things combined that get folded into this 'convenient' price rise. Printing might have shifted to color, so the write of on B/W printers might have changed, etc.

 

[Professor Murder]

A price increase was probably coming anyway. My electric company announced a 10% increase for this year after a 3% increase last year. US Postal rates and those from private companies are also higher. Insurance cost have been increasing. The timing of this is probably so folks blame the tariffs but even if the tariffs get fully canceled, I would expect much of this increase to stay in place.

I think what's the issue is that, due to this "perfect storm," we should not expect modest increases but instead possibly crippling large increases. A 5-10% hike is bad. a 30-40% jump or possibly more could drive people out of any given Geek hobby. Years ago, I reassessed my splitting my spending among a wide variety of geek past times (Minis, TTRPGs, TCGs, Comics and more) and cut out the ones that I was just doing reflexively and not really engaging with. So comics out. TCGs out. Minis out. And I expect that for many who have diverse interests, some of those are going to get pruned. For the TTRPG space, impact is hard to guess. I again advocate for tables to share purchase responsibilities communally where appropriate. Want to get a new game for your table? Make everyone chip in to purchase the books and accessories needed.

 

[The Soloist]

Does DTRPG use the same type of paper for BW and colour? If it's not the same, that could explain the price differences. The price of paper varies with supply and demand.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Does DTRPG use the same type of paper for BW and colour? If it's not the same, that could explain the price differences. The price of paper varies with supply and demand.

I believe they're different. I know some folks have created black and white books but suggested buyers get them in the PoD color printing specifically to get the higher quality results.

 

[MacDhomnuill]

Going forward it's gonna be real hard to tell what companies are legit effected by tariffs, and who are just doing a cash grab. I hope in this case it is the former.

Any company that uses paper is getting hit by tariffs, any company that produces in Canada, Mexico, China or Europe is getting hit by tariffs. That pretty much covers 99% of the hobby.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I believe they're different. I know some folks have created black and white books but suggested buyers get them in the PoD color printing specifically to get the higher quality results.

That doesn't make a difference. The paper is the same:

 

[Staffan]

Well yeah, that’s literally what this thread is about. The price of printing in the US going up.

I thought the thread was about specifically POD pricing going up? I was pointing out how it would also affect pricing of regular PDFs.