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

[alg.livejournal.com]

It's not a secret. We don't keep it a secret. It's just very complicated, and it takes a while to explain -- I have seriously been writing this for more than a month! Plus, it's math. Everyone is afraid of math.

[julesjones]

I'm not afraid of maths, but I have a degree in maths and physics, and therefore probably count as a statistical anomaly.

(And I still can't work out why my brain appears to be hard-wired to produce political sf with a gay romance plot instead of the stereotypical hard sf.)

[heyoka.livejournal.com]

(I can't work it out either, but dude, I'd buy that!)

[julesjones]

Good, this is the sort of thing I like to hear. :-)

I am currently not-working on updating my CV before sending it to someone. (The local second-hand bookshop, in fact.) And wondering how to say, in one short phrase, "I have had several books published by a Real Publisher, and yes I do know what that means and that it does not include operations like Publish America." For me that is *much* more brain-bending than the many-stepped but essentially simple maths that Anna has explained so clearly.

[(Anonymous)]

'Tisn't math 'tis arithmetic

[julesjones]

I'm not getting into *that* flamewar, thank you. :-)