Publishers spend very little--if any--money on marketing and promoting the books they publish. The job of promoting a book is by and large left up to its author, who will usually try to drum up some buzz through book signings, speaking engagements, Web sites, writing articles and submitting excerpts to magazines and literary journals, etc.
It might sound unfair, but perhaps if value were placed on books the way it's placed on movies, music, and television shows, things might be different.
2007-03-15 13:58:56
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answer #1
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answered by Carrie G 2
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It never ceases to amaze me how people with no clue about the publishing industry feel the need to provide inaccurate information about it. AUTHORS SHOULD NEVER PAY A DIME toward publishing or promoting their own work! NEVER, EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE! I don't know how much more clear that can be. If an author is paying for anything, they have been scammed.
Publisher's cost include:
*Advance to the writer: normally, a new writer gets up to $5,000 or so as an advance. Even if for some reason the book never sees the light of day, the author keeps that money
*Actual printing cost: Hardcover prices fluxuate wildly depending on the cost of paper. Publishers normally have to maintain their own offset presses. Which means they also have to employ people to run those presses. Even if you place the cost at $3 per book (probably low for a hardcover, but let's be optimistic), you will have to order a minimum run. A small press might run only 1000 copies. The newest Harry Potter I believe has an initial run of 15,000,000. Do the math.
*Warehousing and distribution: These books have to be stored stomewhere, and you need trucks and packers to get them shipped to stores.
*Advertising: Even a small press like mine can spend a few hundred dollars just on complimentary copies to book reviewers. Then you have to buy ads. The bulk of the advertising is NOT directly to consumers. It is in trade publications geared at booksellers and libraries. A single ad in Publisher's Weekly can cost over $500 or more. If the author makes one appearance on a talk show, the publisher picks up the tab: hotel, transportation, food, etc. (though big name authors will generally be comped by the company doing the interview). Sites like Bookmovement.com that offer reader guides charge $100 PER BOOK to list them. If the publisher wants the book to be in front of bookclubs, the publisher has to pay up.
So publishing is big business. And these costs don't even include proofreading, typesetting, cover art, layout, and accounting costs.
2007-03-15 22:47:14
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answer #2
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answered by bardsandsages 4
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This varies wildly. Mostly, a new author's book will be shown to booksellers by a distributor, along with other books. The book will appear in the publisher's catalogue, if any. Apart from that... there will probably be very little individual advertising. The profit margin in publishing is so slim that it wouldn't be worth while. Review copies are sent out, so that's advertising of a kind...
2007-03-15 20:05:52
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answer #3
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answered by sallyotas 3
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