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

[secco98.livejournal.com]

How much money does a book have to make to get an author a shot at another contract? Clearly, an author who (with the help of an editor...) costs a publisher $21,528.60 isn't going to get another contract. But what about a book that makes a small profit? Are publishers going to be happy that it made any profit at all, or will they take their chances that some other author can turn a bigger profit? I'm pretty sure the answer will be "That depends...", but I'm curious.

[pnh.livejournal.com]

The fact is, if publishers were in fact as hardnosed as we imply we are when we talk about this stuff, only a fraction as many books would ever get published.