There is a certain power that comes from being a "consultant". Simply put: you can take pot shots at almost anybody! And in this time of change or die transition, I can have a field day with the varied cast of characters who still don't "get it". Of course, we all know that bridge-burning can come back to haunt... So, maybe I will avoid names and if needed, employ aliases...
First, my bona fides: I have been publisher of something like 3,000 books. Give or take a 100 or so.I have signed all of those deals, and looked at every P&L. Please, dear reader, trust me. I know stuff.
And I will speak the dirty secret that plagues the book world every day: the book publishing financial model SUCKS. There is rarely any profit. Very few books-and I mean VERY few-make any money. If tomorrow morning, 9am sharp, book publishers stopped publishing products that were "non-profit", there would be lots of production folks, and designers, and editors, and, like, LOTS of book people who suddenly began spending all day at Starbucks.
With that said, lets emphathize with the poor, beleagured publishing folks. Follow this bouncing ball with me! A $20 retail book averages a $9.50 payment to the publisher, which gets whittled on by various additional fees to maybe $9.00. Books are fully returnable (bad idea Bennett!) so you can expect 25% back from the retailer-a boatload more if you get mass market distribution (If Price Clubs buy big, get your warehouse workers ready!)
Then comes author royalty>PPB>distribution>sales>marketing. (I am, like, making myself sick... sigh...steady boy!). Then you gotta pay every body and pay rent and take agents to lunch and pay to go to BEA and stand around and so much more.
I am taking a valium break.
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Don't blame Bennett - it was Max, as in Schuster. He was convinced he could sell more crossword puzzle books.
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