PUBLISHER'S PRIDE collects insights and perspectives for the book trade.
The time for new print publishing models is upon us, and here at Atelier26, we aim to do things in somewhat unconventional ways. In the following hilarious glimpse of the insanity of mainstream New York publishing, excerpted from industry veteran Daniel Menaker's new book My Mistake, a memoir of life in the conglomerates, we recognize the status quo we proudly subvert. (Via Vulture.com, where you can read further excerpts from Menaker's book.)
“You want to buy this book, Dan?” my boss, Ann Godoff, says, referring to the first work I’m trying to acquire at Random House, by George Saunders. “Well, do a P-and-L for it and we’ll see.”
“What’s a P-and-L?”
“I’ll walk you through it. What’s the advance?”
My only knowledge came from what I had been paid for my own books, so I thought surely I should offer more. “Fifty thousand dollars?”
“For a book of stories? But okay, what’s the payout?”
“Payout?”
“Start with how much of the advance the author will get on signing the contract.”
“Thirty thousand dollars?”
“Twenty-five—half on signing.”
“Okay, 25.”
“On delivery-and-acceptance?”
“Well, 25, I guess.”
“No—you have to have an on-pub payment.”
“Oh. Twenty for D-and-A? And five on-pub?”
“Nothing for paperback on-pub?”
“Oh. Ten for D-and-A, ten for on-pub, and five for the paperback?”
“Nah—it’s okay. You don’t really need a paperback payment. I just wanted to mention it. How many hardcovers are we going to print at the start?”
“Twenty thousand?”
“Too much. Ten.”
“Okay.”
“Second printing?”
“Five?”
“Good! Returns?”
“Returns?”
“How many unsold hardcovers will booksellers send back?”
“Five hundred?”
“Nah. Usually figure one third—in this case, 5,000.”
“Whoa!”
“It’s a shitty business, Dan. What’s the price?”
“Twenty-one ninety-five?” I say, using my own most recent book as a guide.
“Good. So how much will we earn against this advance?”
“____”
“We make about $3 for each hardcover sale, $1 for each paperback.”
“So if we sell 10,000 hardcovers, that’s $30,000.”
“Right.”
“And say 10,000 paperbacks. That’s $40,000.”
“Right—so the P-and-L probably won’t work. So we have to adjust the figures. But remember, you can’t change the returns percentage.”
“Increase the first printing to 15,000 and the second printing to 7,500?”
“That ought to do it. Isn’t this scientific?”
(Read more remembered insanity here.)
