Note: I’ve added Faith in Doubt to MatchBook Pricing, so if you buy the physical copy then you should be able to purchase the Kindle edition at the discounted price of $2.99.
Update: After getting the proof copy in the mail, I decided that the gray cover design was an idiotic decision on my part (likely due to the desperation I had underwent hoping to finally release the book after so many years of working on it) and I’ve changed it to be a complete dark color instead out of my own sense of fun.
With the physical edition finally being made available after jumping through a few hurdles, I’d like to take the time to explain the major differences. The books are 99% identical, but there’s a reason for the pricing differences, spacing differences, and the shorter Preface in the physical edition.
The second-half of the Preface was fully intended to be an extra to explain for those curious why my intentions with the book and my arguments were revised over the course of four years as I did more research. Much of the contents in the Preface is essentially re-stated in both the concluding portions on the section of Islam and the conclusion of the book itself so you aren’t missing much of anything. I had actually made the second-half of the Preface on a whim.
The spacing differences are due to my foolishness at not having checked how much spacing was required for a book and my fears of having to split the physical edition into two books. Fortunately, that never happened as I re-checked Amazon’s guidelines and found I could fit all the necessary contents that I needed into one neat package. I got rid of the Section Breaks for each chapter in the physical edition as they weren’t necessary and took up too much space; they were exclusively intended for the Kindle edition regardless. Furthermore, I cut some of the “For Reference” in the Bibliography that was fully quoted in the actual book as it seemed like an extra that didn’t need to be there. As such, the Physical edition has fewer words and less branched out pages within.
Now for the most perplexing aspect; why is the physical edition priced $43.55 while the Kindle edition is only $9.99? Well, it’s honestly due to adjusting for the difference in pricing policies between the Kindle and Physical editions on Amazon’s Self-Publish policy.
You see, Amazon gives authors 70% of the royalties for any Kindle book priced between $2.99 and $9.99, everything below and above that is a return of 30% royalties. So, if I priced the Kindle edition far above $9.99 then I would make far less money in return.
For the physical edition, its partly my own fault because Amazon subtracts the money that you make from royalties per page count used. So, I lose over $10 from the physical edition and since I obviously want both Kindle and Physical editions to help make a living for me, then I have to increase the price to $43.55 with the intended return from the 60% earned from royalties.
I’d like to remind people that this is actually a really good deal because I’d still be making more of a return from my hard work of 4 years than with Traditional publishing where authors make only around 50 cents per book sale at best.
Finally, if you’re daunted by the page lengths, please don’t be! Think of it as a really good deal on 6-7 books all in one neat package since each section is a typical book length, so you’re definitely getting more bang for your buck. What matters is the value that you get from the purchase and I’m confident in saying that the vast majority will definitely get a massive return in value from buying my book, Faith in Doubt.