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Zines, Costs, and Labor
Apr. 6th, 2021 10:40 amI'm thinking about reprinting my Haunted Houses flash fiction zine, and I calculated the price per item, which is:
For each zine: $1.28
For the peripherals: $1.496
For shipping supplies: $.477
Total: $3.25 per item
The Etsy seller fees are complicated, but they're about $.50 per order. I therefore set the former listing price at $4.00 for one zine and absorbed the shipping costs.
However! What if I were to pay myself for my labor? It takes about 20 minutes to write a quick thank-you note and draw a small doodle, pack the order, put the address on the envelope, and go onto Etsy to mark the order as sent. (This doesn't count the time I spend at the post office, which is difficult to calculate, but I'm thinking about using Stamps dot com in the future.)
If the minimum wage in Pennsylvania is $7.25, then I would need to pay myself $2.42 for the 20 minutes I spend preparing each order.
Since the vast majority of buyers only purchase one zine at a time, this would raise the cost of a zine to $5.67.
That's with shipping not included. Given that Media Mail shipping in the U.S. is about $2.50, I'm not sure this zine is worth $8.17. If I charge a flat $5 per zine, though, I think $7.50 would be reasonable. I still wouldn't be "making money," but my labor would be partially compensated.
$6 would be a more comfortable price. I don't want to devalue my work, but I'm not sure I have a large enough audience to justify the slightly higher price on the current market. For the time being, I think I'll sit with $5 per zine with shipping not included and see how that goes.
For each zine: $1.28
For the peripherals: $1.496
For shipping supplies: $.477
Total: $3.25 per item
The Etsy seller fees are complicated, but they're about $.50 per order. I therefore set the former listing price at $4.00 for one zine and absorbed the shipping costs.
However! What if I were to pay myself for my labor? It takes about 20 minutes to write a quick thank-you note and draw a small doodle, pack the order, put the address on the envelope, and go onto Etsy to mark the order as sent. (This doesn't count the time I spend at the post office, which is difficult to calculate, but I'm thinking about using Stamps dot com in the future.)
If the minimum wage in Pennsylvania is $7.25, then I would need to pay myself $2.42 for the 20 minutes I spend preparing each order.
Since the vast majority of buyers only purchase one zine at a time, this would raise the cost of a zine to $5.67.
That's with shipping not included. Given that Media Mail shipping in the U.S. is about $2.50, I'm not sure this zine is worth $8.17. If I charge a flat $5 per zine, though, I think $7.50 would be reasonable. I still wouldn't be "making money," but my labor would be partially compensated.
$6 would be a more comfortable price. I don't want to devalue my work, but I'm not sure I have a large enough audience to justify the slightly higher price on the current market. For the time being, I think I'll sit with $5 per zine with shipping not included and see how that goes.
