P&Ls and how books make (or don't) money

[alg]

Profit & Loss/Profitability & Liability: How Books Make (or Don't Make!) Money

A basic outline of what happens when an editor buys a book and wants to publish it. This is very much a basic look at publishing and publishing finance, with some explanation of terms commonly used by the marketing and sales departments.

Comments

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

And it was slowly accreting this knowledge over 12 years (I'm a Production Fairy, so I don't see P&Ls as much as I am asked for the numbers that go into them) that kept me from being eager about submitting my writing anywhere.

Just like politics and sausage. Maybe it's best not to know how it's made.

Fortunately, I have moved beyond the a desire to disenchant those wannabe writers who think it is a matter of writing a book, letting a publisher have the priviledge of publishing it, and then living fat off their royalties. 'Cause you know, they don't really want to know.

[alg.livejournal.com]

Just like politics and sausage. Maybe it's best not to know how it's made.

This is one of the reasons we discourage wannabe writers from working in the business at all. Go and do something not publishing related!, we tell them. Often we are ignored, which is too bad.