Should a Book Cost Less than a Big Mac?

685 Calories for the Afternoon vs. Inspiration for a Lifetime

Seriously. Do you think a book is less valuable than a Big Mac?

The internet age has produced a generation that thinks they deserve to get all information and much of their entertainment for free. But is this a sound pricing model to encourage creativity, research, and the advancement of the intellect?

Take a moment to think about the following.

It takes roughly one minute to make a Big Mac. Furthermore, McDonald’s makes a considerable effort to ensure that all Big Macs are the same. There is no innovation, no creativity, and no intellectual effort involved in the production of Big Macs.

The average price of a Big Mac nowadays is $6.12. Based on McDonald’s annual reporting, the ingredients account for between 28% and 32% of the price, or on average $1.85. Labour, including kitchen preparation, counter service, and management, accounts for 32%–36% or $2.08. Overhead (rent, energy, etc.) adds another $1.35 to the price, leaving only $0.85 profit—roughly 15%.

The value of a Big Mac to the consumer is 580 calories plain, or 685 with ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. That is more than one-third of the recommended calorie consumption for an average person per day. Put another way, the calories provide one-third of the consumer’s recommended daily calorie consumption.

For comparison, it takes me on average one year working full-time to produce a book. That is the equivalent of 2,190 hours. Of that, roughly half is spent on the actual writing; the rest is research, editing, and marketing. Let’s call it 1,100 hours of actual creative writing for the first draft and an additional 500 hours of reworking, rewriting, and redrafting the finished manuscript. Marketing, furthermore, entails the development of back-cover text, advertising text, and drafting inquiry letters, the first of which demand considerable creativity and originality.

While other authors may come to alternative assessments, I believe roughly 1,750 hours of creative work go into the production of a book. In terms of minutes (the unit for the production of a Big Mac), that is 105,000 minutes. Based on production time alone, a book ought to cost 105,000 times more than a Big Mac, or $642,600—if there were only a single copy of each title.

To be meaningful, the comparison must take into account the number of copies sold. In 2025, 90% of all self-published authors sold fewer than 100 copies of each title. Of traditionally published authors, 15% sold fewer than 12 copies, and 66% sold fewer than 1,000 copies. Nevertheless, 163 of over 4 million titles sold more than 100,000 copies.

In short, choosing an “average” sales figure for a book is nearly impossible. The best I can do is look at my own sales. On average, each of my titles has sold around 1,500 copies over time, which makes my time investment per copy somewhat less than an hour and a half. If I were paid a minimum wage, that would convert to a cost of $10.58 per copy.

But labour is not the only factor. I have software programs, websites, research costs, and contracted services such as cover design, formatting, editing, and distribution. Altogether, I have found it costs me $5,000 to produce a high-quality book in both ebook and paperback format. I can easily spend another $5,000 in marketing a title. That’s peanuts compared to what the major publishing companies spend on marketing, but these costs still add $6.66 to the cost of each copy.

In short, even without a penny in profit and no compensation commensurate with my qualifications or experience, each copy should cost $17.24 before print costs. I.e., the ebook price should be $17.24 and the paperback $17.24 plus print costs of $5.00 or more. There’s still no margin there for profit, but at least costs at minimum wage rates would be covered.

My ebooks, however, are priced between $2.99 and $5.99. That’s a steal. You should take advantage of it!

After all, they don’t just give you calories for one-third of the day; they may give you inspiration, insight, or wisdom that will last a lifetime.