Khai, I think what you're getting at is that books are relatively more expensive here in the US than they are in the UK when compared to a pair of jeans. Same goes for electronics, whiskey, and quite a lot else, which are cheaper here. Books in the US are, however, relatively cheap when compared to, for example, green vegetables, potatoes, and a whole bunch of other things. Overall, the cost of living between the two countries seems to work out roughly the same if you ignore medical insurance, which shoots up the US cost of living unbelievably. Even so, because mean wage levels are higher, for most people a book represents a smaller percentage of their net disposable income than is the case in the UK. That's why mass-market paperbacks are a major part of the book scene in the UK, whereas in the US they're a relatively small part: in the US, hardbacks aren't a luxury item. OK, now if a book costs $25, the publisher will receive on average something like $10 per copy sold through bookstores, and about half that for copies sold through book clubs or as a co-edition. The net return is less than that, because the publisher has to pay shipping cost. Because booksellers exploit the sale-or-return option ruthlessly (and in my opinion often dishonestly), something like 25% of the copies you think you've sold to bookstores come back to you, at your shipping expense, and many of these are unfit for reselling. The unit cost per copy of a $25 illustrated book is likely to be in the $4-$5 range, assuming it's been printed in the Far East (which probably most of them these days are). Oh, yeah, and you shouldn't forget the costs of the fact that booksellers, book clubs and everybody else take as long as they possibly can before they pay you, and sometimes they never do. Adding all of that lot up, you can see that your simple math of $25 x 10,000 copies = (Wow!) $250,000 doesn't look so juicy or healthy after all. These figures don't apply to the new Stephen King or John Grisham novel, where the first print-run is astronomical and the origination costs are virtually zero. But they do apply to the average illustrated book, of which this is one.

"yeah but $16 is $16 here or there I think that you missed his point. $16 here will buy me a steak dinner. $16 there will buy me a steak dinner" I don't follow that either. If your figures are right, the UK book costs nearly two steak dinners while the US book costs only (say) 1.7 steak dinners.

"UK Price 15.99. US $24.99" At the moment, with the USD rate against Sterling something like 1.9, that means the US copy is about 10% cheaper than the UK one. "get off your high horse and don't be insulting. just because you, yourself have not been there it does not mean someone else is wrong." But I have been there. That's where I got my figures from.

Khai, as a rule of thumb, publishers are very lucky to clear 10% of the cover price of a book, after the bills have been paid - printing, origination, you name it. And that's on the copies they actually sell, not the total they print. I don't know the printers you're dealing with who won't touch anything under 10,000 copies. Most of the books that are published today don't have a print-run that large, so I can only assume you're talking about magazine printers ... but even they would be in difficulties with a policy like that, because there are plenty of color mags with print-runs under 10,000, often a lot under 10,000. At a guess, Spectrum - which has a high reputation - sells about 4000 copies, perhaps double that if it can get a book club deal (but the margins on book club deals are infinitesimal). So take your own figures, plug in reality rather than fantasy as the numerical values, take into account the production and mailing of those 2000 copies to art directors, and see how the math works out now.

Khai -- how much of that $24.95 do you think the publisher receives?

Oh, there's one thing I'd like to see clarified. In the Spectrum competition there are winners in various categories -- can't remember what the categories are, but they're something like Best Oils, Best Monochrome, etc. Are there going to be similar category winners here? And, like several people have said, it'd be good to know who're going to be the judges. That makes two things, not one. Okay, okay ...

"HMMMMM, if all what you say is true, when WHY DO EACH AND ANY PROFESSIONAL ARTISTS WARN you to NEVER EVER PAY for being published ???" But you're not paying for being published, are you? You're paying an entry fee for a contest. If your work's a winner then you're getting paid for it -- certainly at the very least with a copy of that limited-edition hardback they're talking about. And you're getting kind of dream exposure of your work in a showcase volume mailed to lots of art directors. So where exactly is your beef? Like thumbcrew, I think this could have been a lot better worded at the outset, but really the whole venture is fairly standard industry practice. And, like bonestructure says, if that's not the way you want to go, your solution's pretty simple: don't enter the contest.

"Actually, if you pay for something with no guarantee of services rendered, I'd rather call it a 'gamble'." Which is one of the reasons I myself never go in for contests, but lots of other people do enter them, and lots of other people do well out of them. And many if not most of those competitions have entry fees. Indeed, I think (may be wrong) that $20 is way at the low end of what the entry fees for these contests usually are.

"Sounds to me more along the line of sending 2000 e-books, hmmm?" With respect, that's a kind of asinine suggestion. Of course they're talking about physical books. When I've been art directing, I've received similar annuals, and believe me they don't get thrown out, as someone suggested. Artists I know who've been in them have all said they've received commissions as a result, and sometimes a lot of commissions. (My guess is that this is because art directors find the books ideal for glomming through while riding in the subway, sitting in the john, whatever.) Most such books in fact charge very high fees to artists to get a page, which is of course guaranteed; here you're being asked for a fairly nominal entrance fee to a competition, but obviously have no such guarantee ... because it's a competition, no? A bit swings-and-roundabouts as to which is the better approach.

To be fair, none of the comments so far have taken account of this part of the call: "Sent to at least 2,000 ad agencies in US and Europe with your contact details..." In other words, the first 2000 copies of the book are being given away FREE, with contact details in them, to the Art Directors you might normally be willing to give an arm if they'd take a look at your work.