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

Pessimistic?

[frankleblanc.livejournal.com]

Your article may be slightly pessimistic but not nearly as much as an editor I once met in Banff, Alberta in 1999. Our conversation went like this:

"What do you write?" he asked.

"Short fiction."

"HA!" he mocked, "Good luck, buddy!"

"How can I improve my chances?"

"You really wanna make money writing? OK here's what you do: first become a big celebrity, then write a cookbook."

No kidding. That's what he said. I still write but not as much or as enthusiastically as I did five or six years ago. I have not yet started a cookbook.