5 ms·

The publishers usually survive because of the income generated by large bestsellers. This income is what pays for the books that end up not selling well. The va

The publishers usually survive because of the income generated by large bestsellers. This income is what pays for the books that end up not selling well. The vast majority of books don't sell much, so without the popular books, publishers can't afford to publish. There are many publishers today whose whole operation is basically funded by two or three authors that sell really well. Those earnings offload the cost and losses of the other books.

gwbas1c 5y ago
Reading that, it leads me to believe that the best-selling authors are really funding other peoples' hobbies. I wrote a draft of a book around the beginning of the pandemic. At the end, I lost interest and moved on to other things. (The whole idea of trying to get it published looked harder than writing the first draft.)
- CuriouslyC 5y ago
  Not so much, publishers view the long tail of currently non-bestselling authors as a pile of lottery tickets. Some of those will pay off, and that funds the next pile of lottery tickers, which is the business model.
  - gwbas1c 5y ago
    So do you think it's worth trying to get it published? I enjoyed writing it until I got to the last chapter. By then I was ready to do something else. Honestly, I'm kinda curious what the "time commitment" is to revise and publish. It probably took me about 100 hours to write the first draft. When I've looked back I see typos, so I assume that putting the polish needed to try to publish it would take at least another 100 hours.
Mediterraneo10 5y ago
It extends to music as well. Consider the acclaimed jazz label ECM. Some of its recordings of more obscure jazzmen sell only a few hundred copies, not even covering production costs. But a Keith Jarrett record will sell so many thousands of copies that it can subsidize other releases on the label.

5 ms·

The publishers usually survive because of the income generated by large bestsellers. This income is what pays for the books that end up not selling well. The va

by soapdog 5y ago

gwbas1c 5y ago
Reading that, it leads me to believe that the best-selling authors are really funding other peoples' hobbies. I wrote a draft of a book around the beginning of the pandemic. At the end, I lost interest and moved on to other things. (The whole idea of trying to get it published looked harder than writing the first draft.)
- CuriouslyC 5y ago
  Not so much, publishers view the long tail of currently non-bestselling authors as a pile of lottery tickets. Some of those will pay off, and that funds the next pile of lottery tickers, which is the business model.
  - gwbas1c 5y ago
    So do you think it's worth trying to get it published? I enjoyed writing it until I got to the last chapter. By then I was ready to do something else. Honestly, I'm kinda curious what the "time commitment" is to revise and publish. It probably took me about 100 hours to write the first draft. When I've looked back I see typos, so I assume that putting the polish needed to try to publish it would take at least another 100 hours.
Mediterraneo10 5y ago
It extends to music as well. Consider the acclaimed jazz label ECM. Some of its recordings of more obscure jazzmen sell only a few hundred copies, not even covering production costs. But a Keith Jarrett record will sell so many thousands of copies that it can subsidize other releases on the label.