Quote:
Originally Posted by murraypaul
Total of what?
Total of 'price' of book from the point of view of the publisher, ignoring retail markup and all the distribution costs that retailers incur?
Total per book printed, regardless of whether that book is actually sold?
Total excluding returns, which are hidden somewhere else?
|
The total that it
costs the publisher to actually prepare the book for publication, in
any format. Acquisition with attendant advance, contract, line edit, copy edit, proofread, cover design and art, markup and typeset and the like will happen regardless of output format. So will allocation of a share of corporate overhead. If the book is being published in hardcover, paperback, and ebook format, the costs will be allocated across all three. If ebook is the only format, it will bear the full load.
Reserve against returns
should apply only to print editions, since it's meaningless for ebooks. (I say should because I can imagine publishers silly enough to try to apply it to ebooks, too...)
The suggested retail
price is a rather different matter, as it
does include things like retailer markup and distribution costs in the case of physical books.
The costs the publisher incurs to make the book will govern the
wholesale price charged to the retailer, and will be set at a level that covers the publisher's costs and makes a sufficient amount of profit.
______
Dennis