Totally different market for the trade paperbacks, then?
I write for Syngress, technical books. They tend to be priced in the $30-50 range, list. I think printing runs are more often in the 8,000-12,000 range, costs per book are in the $15-20 range, returns actually are returned and restocked & resold. I take a pretty modest advance usually, if I take one at all. Being a hobby writer, I don't actually need an advance to pay the bills. I don't think I've ever lost money, as in had to pay back, on a book. Publisher keeps a reserve amount of royalties for returns until the book is retired.
And I mean "lost money" as in having to give some back. I'm not counting the fact that my time ends up being minimum wage sometimes. :)
Now, it's not just that my friends and I write killer books that always sell well. :) Is my publisher just structuring things so that I can't get into trouble? Just a totally different market for the tech books?
Strange
I write for Syngress, technical books. They tend to be priced in the $30-50 range, list. I think printing runs are more often in the 8,000-12,000 range, costs per book are in the $15-20 range, returns actually are returned and restocked & resold. I take a pretty modest advance usually, if I take one at all. Being a hobby writer, I don't actually need an advance to pay the bills. I don't think I've ever lost money, as in had to pay back, on a book. Publisher keeps a reserve amount of royalties for returns until the book is retired.
And I mean "lost money" as in having to give some back. I'm not counting the fact that my time ends up being minimum wage sometimes. :)
Now, it's not just that my friends and I write killer books that always sell well. :) Is my publisher just structuring things so that I can't get into trouble? Just a totally different market for the tech books?