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

[endelarin.livejournal.com]

After my first novel was published many years ago (not Tor), I wrote polite letters to the editor trying to find out how many copies had sold. I never got an answer and eventually gave up trying. As you might guess, I had no agent. To this day, I don't know for certain how many copies sold or if it earned back its advance. I'm assuming not.

Thanks so much for helping demystify this whole process! Had I been less intimidated by the publishing end, I would have understood some of the reasons WHY they couldn't give me a number.

[alg.livejournal.com]

To this day, I don't know for certain how many copies sold or if it earned back its advance. I'm assuming not.

They are required by law and your contract to give you copies of your royalty statement, which should tell you exactly how many copies sold!