Publishing Industry

So you have written a book, or you have an idea for a book you think people would love to read. Now what? There are thousands of authors who have written books and published them on Amazon. Amazon pays out tens of millions of dollars every month to authors for royalties. From what I’ve read, more than 50 % of authors on Amazon make less than $100 per year. The main reason is. They don’t do a few things that you need to do to sell books and make money. Why is writing a book for Amazon a good idea? Several reasons it is great. You can do it for free. Amazon is the biggest book seller in ...

Writers talk about their work in many ways: as an art, as a calling, as a lifestyle. Too often missing from these conversations is the fact that writing is also a business. The reality is, those who want to make a full- or part-time job out of writing are going to have a more positive and productive career if they understand the basic business principles underlying the industry.

In the late 1950s, Random House editor Jason Epstein would talk jazz with Ralph Ellison or chat with Andy Warhol while pouring drinks. By the 1970s, editors were poring over profit-and-loss statements. The electronics company RCA bought Random House in 1965, and then other large corporations purchased other formerly independent publishers. As multinational conglomerates consolidated the industry, the business of literature—and literature itself—transformed. Dan Sinykin explores how changes in the publishing industry have affected fiction, literary form, and what it means to be an author.