Re: Publishing

**"bbmackey" b*@prodigy.net**

Lon asks about the economics of publishing in relation to reprinting his
hardcover edition, which has sold out. With publishing, all the costs come
first. The publisher has to pay for the author advances, editing, photos,
illustrations, and other kinds of production, warehousing, and shipping
costs. Meanwhile, the printing bill for a short run of books is almost as
expensive as a much larger run. The cost is more in the setup than in the
actual paper and ink. So a publisher makes a guess as to the number needed,
trying to make as large a printing as is feasible, to have enough for the
need, but not be stuck with thousands left over which can't be sold.

Then, say, the first printing of this book is sold out. Payments have been
trailing in, and at last, the book has met all its costs, and maybe earned
somewhat more. Eureka. The publisher, last in line, has finally climbed out
of the red and is ahead. But wait. A reprint is needed. So, with no
assurance that demand will continue, there are two choices. The first, which
Lon's publisher has made, is to call it a success and quit right there. No
risk. And the publisher still has the paperbacks to meet any continuing
demand for the book. It is cheaper to reprint paperbacks than hardcovers.
The second choice (which I have just made by reprinting "Creating and
Planting Garden Troughs") is to go back into the red, and take on the cost
of another large printing of a hardcover. In this case there's no paperback,
or I wouldn't have reprinted either. There's no point in doing a small
printing because the cost is very nearly identical to a larger one. If the
book keeps selling, I will eventually earn back the new costs, win my bet,
and come out ahead in the long run. But if it stops selling too soon, I will
lose my bet, and the money I would have had by quitting while I was ahead. I
have no stockholders to please, but maybe Lon's publisher does.

You won't find many publishers in Las Vegas. We're already gambling every
day.

Betty Mackey
http://www.mackeybooks.com
"Something Special in Garden Books"

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>

>    Can someone with publishing experience explain something to me?  My
book
> was published in both paper and hardback editions.  I've been selling some
> myself, since that was part of the reason for writing the book.  I was
> running low on hardcover so I wrote to order more.  I was told that they
> were all sold out due to backorders.  Supposedly the books are too
expensive
> to print more, so they are going to see about having some of the
paperbacks
> re-bound.
>    If the hardbound sells so well, why not print more?  What is there
about
> the economics of this I am missing?
>

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