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Sorry to get back here so late. Kali, thanks for the response. Of course the author would have to have some publications - no publisher is going to take a new author without some stories published in journals, etc. (there may be some exceptions).
Let's consider a "parity" situation, an author that could get a book published through a regular publisher. Would an editor be interested in going in on a "book project"?
Based on my friend's experience, he got a small advance, got about 2k for promotional expenses and spent two months traveling and signing books and doing readings around the country, and he still hasn't made back his advance, plus he spent a lot of his own money traveling and paying rent while he wasn't working. There will be a paperback run, but each paperback sold contributes less to the advance. And he got a lot of good press, got a cover blurb from David Brin, a writeup in the NYTimes, and got on Barnes and Nobles top pick for the Christmas season (there are hundreds of books in there, though). Of course, the economy has been a disaster.
I am not saying the publishers are evil, or thieves, or anything like that (his publisher has been very supportive), but they have a lot of overhead to cover, there are a lot of books to flog, and only so much collective attention out there. With the return an author gets on a book, it can be hard writing worth it. The question is, is there a way to keep a larger percentage of less sales, and do better than with a traditional publisher?
One way I thought of would be to offer everyone who contributes (writer, editor, artist) a larger cut for a good book in return for taking on some of the risk as well, but mostly to see what you can do without in the publishing business.
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