Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface to the Fifth Edition
- Preface to the Fourth Edition
- Preface to the Third Edition
- Preface to the Second Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- Chapter 1 The Publishing Partnership
- Chapter 2 Journal Articles
- Chapter 3 Revising a Dissertation
- Chapter 4 Finding a Publisher for the Scholarly Book
- Chapter 5 Working with Your Publisher
- Chapter 6 Multiauthor Books and Anthologies
- Chapter 7 Finding a Publisher for the College Textbook
- Chapter 8 Working with Your Textbook Publisher
- Chapter 9 Books for General Readers
- Chapter 10 The Mechanics of Authorship
- Chapter 11 Costs and Prices
- Chapter 12 Born Digital
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Chapter 11 - Costs and Prices
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface to the Fifth Edition
- Preface to the Fourth Edition
- Preface to the Third Edition
- Preface to the Second Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- Chapter 1 The Publishing Partnership
- Chapter 2 Journal Articles
- Chapter 3 Revising a Dissertation
- Chapter 4 Finding a Publisher for the Scholarly Book
- Chapter 5 Working with Your Publisher
- Chapter 6 Multiauthor Books and Anthologies
- Chapter 7 Finding a Publisher for the College Textbook
- Chapter 8 Working with Your Textbook Publisher
- Chapter 9 Books for General Readers
- Chapter 10 The Mechanics of Authorship
- Chapter 11 Costs and Prices
- Chapter 12 Born Digital
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
I always used to think that publishers had to be devilish intelligent fellows, loaded down with the grey matter; but I've got their number now. All a publisher has to do is to write cheques at intervals, while a lot of deserving and industrious chappies rally round and do the real work.
Bertie Wooster, in P. G. Wodehouse, Carry On, JeevesOne of the questions publishers are asked often is “Why are books so expensive?” The answer is not simple: It involves the interacting elements of production costs and overhead, pricing and discount policies, and markets. This chapter presents a simplified explanation of these topics that should console authors and book buyers – or at least quell their suspicions. Another question that comes up often is “Are books doomed to extinction?” For the scholarly monograph, this question is as much economic as cultural. In this chapter, we look at the financial implications of publishing without paper and ink. In the final chapter, we will explore the creative possibilities of digital publishing.
Costs
In publishing a book, a publisher incurs direct costs and indirect costs. Direct costs are those clearly attributable to publication of a specific title, such as the cost of having the book typeset.
Indirect costs are overhead items, including rent, utilities, salaries, and supplies. They are the publisher's general operating costs: costs that must be incurred to publish any books at all but that cannot readily be assigned to a particular title in a way that is not arbitrary.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Handbook for Academic Authors , pp. 207 - 236Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009