Quote:
Originally Posted by meraxes
apart from getting your book onto a shelf in Waterstones, that you could not do without them?
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I think you've hit the nail on the head there.
There is, of course, also editing and copy editing and typesetting and printing, but those are all relatively straightforward for any idividual to do or contract out.
It's distribution into bookshops that the main thing that publishers do for authors. The vast majority of book sales are still paper books from physical bookshops.
And if PaperNotIncluded is getting 14% of RRP from a paperback sale, that's very good indeed. The publisher is probably only seeing 50%, out of which they need to pay the editors, copy editors, typesetters, printers and transport. (& the author's 14%)