When a book campaign funds, the next question is how to make the books. For a standard paperback there are two realistic routes: order author copies through a print-on-demand service such as Amazon KDP, or commission an offset print run from a book manufacturer. The usual advice is that offset wins once you need a few hundred copies. Whether that holds depends on which print-on-demand price you plug in.
Start with what KDP charges. Its help pages say author copies are sold at the book's print cost, with no further discount. For a black-ink paperback in a regular trim size sold on Amazon.com, that cost is $1.00 per book plus $0.012 per page. A 300-page novel costs $4.60 to print. A 450-page epic fantasy costs $6.40. Shipping is extra.
Now the offset side. PRC Book Printing, which sells offset runs, publishes sample figures for a 6 by 9 inch, 300-page black-and-white paperback: $1,500 to $2,000 for 500 copies, and $2,200 to $2,800 for 1,000. Its standard minimum is 500 copies, and it quotes three to six weeks from file approval to delivery. The same guide estimates print-on-demand at $8 to $12 per copy and puts the crossover at 200 to 300 copies.
Swap in KDP's actual $4.60 and the picture shifts. Because offset makes you buy at least 500 copies, the fair comparison is total spend. At the $1,750 midpoint for 500 offset copies, KDP author copies stay cheaper until you need about 380 books ($1,750 divided by $4.60). Against a 1,000-copy run at a $2,500 midpoint, KDP stays cheaper until roughly 540 copies. Below those numbers, the lower unit price does not make up for the copies you must buy and store.
Above them, the savings are real. At 1,000 copies, KDP author copies would cost $4,600 against $2,200 to $2,800 for offset, a difference of $1,800 to $2,400.
Three costs sit outside both quotes. Offset books have to travel from the printer to you or your fulfillment partner, and international freight can add weeks. Someone has to store the surplus. And shipping charges on author copies add up if you order in small batches.
One factor is not about price at all. If a campaign promises sprayed edges, foil, or a custom trim, print-on-demand usually cannot deliver it, and the choice is made for you.
The practical rule: count confirmed copies, not hoped-for ones, then run both totals before you commit to either.
Map's Edge Media works through these same numbers for every format decision we make.
