DriveThruRPG Print-on-Demand Prices Increasing Again

Back in March 2025 we reported that print-on-demand costs at DriveThruRPG were increasing by as much as 50% in the US, with the price of a 300-page black-and-white hardcover rising from $13.08 to $19.04. The effect in the UK was much less pronounced, being only around 3-4%.

Now, less than a year later, DTRPG is increasing its PoD prices again. These new prices take effect on February 1st, 2026.

DTRPG uses Lightning Source as its printing partner and has print centres in the US, UK, and Australia. According to DTRPG's publisher newsletter, UK and Australia prices will increase by 3%, and US prices will increase by either 4% or 5%, depending on format--standard color will go up by +4%, while premium color and black & white will increase by +5%.

DriveThruRPG notes that the increase "is not driven by policy or positioning, but simply reflects the rising costs of paper and other materials, labor, and operations involved in producing physical books worldwide."

 

[Sacrosanct]

Glad I put my gamestorm order in yesterday then…

 

[doctorhook]

USA keeps talking about tariffing Canada, which provides something like 70-80% of the USA’s paper. I wonder if there’s a connection…

 

[TheSword]

Also worth remembering that inflation is a thing and in the absence of other cost savings like technology or cutting payroll, you have to pass costs onto the consumer or ultimately go out of business.

 

[kronovan]

Sorry to say it doesn't matter one way or another to me, because their shipping costs to Canada are too high. I haven't ordered anything in print from drivethru in over a decade. It's a shame because many of Drivethru's PDFs supported for POD aren't in the distribution channels here. While getting a PDF printed and bound locally is definitely cost prohibitive.

At this point, I'd rather have the option to have Drivethru PODs be fulfilled by the UK site. A number of UK publishers have in the past few years started allowing Canadians to buy from their UK webstores and a few have found ways to lower the shipping. It seems my days of being a Drivethru customer are numbered. I guess in a way Drivethru is still a handy catalog for me, where I can easily find products and then browse over to the publishers webstore to see if I can buy it there.