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

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

It's not actually a 100% chance, sadly; ask Jennifer Crusie's fans, who would dearly love copies of The Cinderella Deal. Unfortunately, Bantam is sitting on the rights; Crusie's comment is "The Cinderella Deal and Trust Me On This belong to Bantam, and they're waiting until I get famous to reissue them." And, yes, Crusie does make the NYT, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestseller lists.

[alg.livejournal.com]

Okay, sorry -- it's a 99% chance!

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I shouldn't have nitpicked you; I'm sure you are completely correct. It's just frustrating to see certain paperbacks (Susan Kay's *Phantom* is another) priced at four times the cover price and higher, and yet remain unavailable in editions that would actually pay royalties to the writer.

[alg.livejournal.com]

I completely understand. I feel the same way about Suzanne Brockmann! (Although now her out of print stuff is being put back into print, finally.)

Part of the problem here is that publishers only have so many slots -- and unless an author is Nora Roberts, we just can't, most of the time, justify using a mass market paperback slot for a reprint. I am not saying this is the only reason -- but it's definitely one of them.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Let us not speak of how much I paid for The Admiral's Bride.