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

[slamlander.livejournal.com]

What you've just laid out is so much like the software publication business that it's scary.

Yes, I have a book out. However, the business model is completely different at Lulu. No, I don't pay for artwork, I do it myself.

I worked as a Product Manager, the software business equivalent of an editor. Yes, product life-cycle P&L can be a bitch.

[alg.livejournal.com]

Publishing tends to... well, be publishing. No matter where you are or what it is that you're publishing.

Sorry, I've never heard of Lulu. Is it an imprint of a larger house?

[slamlander.livejournal.com]

It's Print On Demand service and can be found at Lulu (http://www.lulu.com).

[alg.livejournal.com]

Ah. Self-publishing is not what I am talking about -- that's why it works differently.