[MaggieScratch]

That's after taking out costs for overhead, such as editorial costs, salaries, rent, utilities, etc. There are costs other than "printing" that go into making a book. In other words, when they end up with money that is not owed to anyone, the publisher splits it with the author. And remember the publisher only gets around 50% of the list price from retail outlets.

And again, it's approximate, and refers to large-scale commercial publishing houses. I'm sure there are particular examples that can be cited as an exception.