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

Thanks for the insight!

[(Anonymous)]

Now I completely understand and appreciate why it's so much easier to get published with epress and why a book from a new author has to be letter perfect before it can be considered by a NY publisher. I don't blame the poor editor who gets burned then is hesitant to sign on any more new authors.

On the other hand I am even more scared to submit my story to a regular pub. Yikes!!! Poor editor, poor Aeryn Sun. Is it ever really worth it?

And at $5K, how much advertising does that buy the new author. Yes writing is an art, but self-promotion is part of today's business.

[alg.livejournal.com]

It's easier to get published by an e-press for a lot of reasons.

Whether it's worth it or not is something you'll have to judge for yourself!

$5000 buys you a good deal of promotion if you spend that money wisely -- target readers, rather than booksellers. Build a good website, get a good mailing list going... or don't do anything at all. Self-promotion is important, but if your books suck, nothing is gonna help that.