Publishing Reality Check

So I have this tiny little publishing company that I operate, Bards and Sages.  We publish a handful of print titles a year.  It isn't my full-time job, but it allows me to create projects I want to create, and it is a nice residual income.  But people find out I'm a publisher and immediate I'm getting pitches for their book ideas.  It's a clique but it's true...everyone wants to be a writer, but few people actual read. 

Some freelancers who profess to "know" the industry sometimes troll writing forums lambasting small publishers for not paying "professional" rates.  Or I get these pitches for books from writers swearing they have a best seller and, even though I am not reading full-length manuscripts, I should take a chance on their book. 

Publisher's Weekly ran an article a couple years ago that pretty bluntly stated the true state of the industry.  In that article, they noted:

Here's the reality of the book industry: in 2004, 950,000 titles out of the 1.2 million tracked by Nielsen Bookscan sold fewer than 99 copies. Another 200,000 sold fewer than 1,000 copies. Only 25,000 sold more than 5,000 copies. The average book in America sells about 500 copies. Those blockbusters are a minute anomaly: only 10 books sold more than a million copies last year, and fewer than 500 sold more than 100,000.

Now I want every aspiring writer with dreams of selling a million books and retiring to absorb that for a moment.  Those aren't guesstimates.  Those aren't random numbers pulled out of a hat.  Those are hard numbers from the industry itself.

Authors cry about why it is so hard to get a publisher excited about a book.  This is why.  Because even the major publishing houses lose an enormous amount of money on most of the books they publish.  Of course, the author really only makes money on royalties, so you might think "Gee, if it doesn't sell it isn't like you have to pay me.  Give it a chance!"  But while the author is paid on a royalty, everyone else is not.  There are fixed costs associated with any book printed, and those costs have to be paid regardless of whether or not a book is a bestseller or not.

 An editor is paid to read the manuscript and recommend changes and/or corrections. 

A proofreader is paid to scan the manuscript for typos, spelling errors, and grammar slips.

An illustrator or designer is paid to create the book cover.  (and note, even in cases where the publisher uses a public domain illustration, that illustration still has to be professionally cropped and altered to work as a cover).

Then you have marketing and sales expenses.  There are comp copies that have to be sent to reviewers.  Ads that are placed in trade publications and magazines.  Media kits sent to bookstores. 

And don't forget all of the logistical and administrative costs.  There is warehousing, shipping, accounting, returns, etc.

This isn't a "feel sorry for the publishers" article.  Publishers still make their money, otherwise they would go out of business.  But it's a reality check.  I'm often asked questions like "How much can I expect to make if I sell a book?"   And people get very dissappointed when I respond "not much." 

Then how do people make money!???

Writers (and most publishers, believe it or not) are in the industry because they love books.  There are easier industries to make money in, and if your sole goal is to make a lot of money you would be better off working somewhere else. 

The majority of writers do not write full-time.  However, many are able to parlay their publishing credits into other things.  I know many writers who make more money lecturing than they do with their writing.  Many teach or run seminars.  Some get grants from both public and private institutions, who understand that there isn't a lot of commercial money to be made in writing but that it is important to provide income for writers anyway.  In short, writing is merely an extention of who they are, and being able to publish a book is simply a joy for which they also earn some money. 

I also point this out because it is important for aspiring writers to really understand the hard numbers, otherwise they might be taken in by unscrupulous con artists.  With the rise of print-on-demand technology, "subsidy" or "cooperative" presses have overrun the industry.  These so-called "publishers" ask you to "invest" in your book.  But the key point to consider is this:  if the major publishing houses, with all of their resources, on average can't sell more than a 100,000 copies of a book, what are the real chances of you getting back your investment with a subsidy publisher?  Slim to none.

It is also something to keep in mind if you are considering self-publishing.  Self-publishing can be a fun and rewarding experience in and of itself, but it is also expensive and the chances of actually getting your money back are low.  I sometimes have people say "Well, if I self-publish I get to keep all of the profits.  If I go with a traditional publisher, I'll only get 10-15%!"  What they don't realize is that all of those "profits" will generally be eaten up by promotions and distribution fees.  And the pricing structure of most POD printers is such that in order to keep your book competitively priced you will only see $1-$3 profit per book anyway.

I don't mean to discourage writers per se.  Rather, this article is meant to separate the wannabes from the real writers.  For the folks who think writing a book is a short cut to riches, maybe this will wake them up to reality.  And for the writers who write for love of the craft, this article simply provides some hard information that they can use when determining how to approach things when it is time to decide where to submit.  For writers trying to determine if they should pursue an agent to try and land a contract with a large publisher, find a small press publisher who accepts unagented submissions, or self-publish, these figures can help clarify what they can really expect to see in terms of realistic sales.