Math is something I can do, but I don’t necessarily enjoy doing it. I took calculus in high school and did all the required math gen eds in college…but I’m still impressed when I look over this spreadsheet rundown of a paperback on the market to see exactly what factors in to a book’s financial success or failure.
http://alg.livejournal.com/84032.html
(here is a secondary article linked from the first one through the science fiction writer’s website: http://sfwa.org/bulletin/articles/profit-motive.html)
This is a Profit/Loss summary, which involves the advance the author receives, bookseller orders, printing costs, royalties, etc., all from an editor who does this thing for a living. Read it and let me know when your eyes start blurring. The good thing to remember is, despite all the mechanics and Excel functions and sales quotes, there always remains a human element (cover art, blurbs, industry trends), as well as a “luck” element (i.e. those take-off bestsellers that no one saw coming).
I know, I know. We’re writers, not engineers or accountants. Why do we need to know this kind of thing? Because I believe it’s important to know both sides of the equation…both business and craft. Maybe that’s just an obsession of mine, especially since I work in that world as well. But the more we know about the reality and trends of the industry, the better prepared we will be for those upturns and downfalls in sales numbers. We won’t take it so personally should a story not sell as well. And we won’t lose hope, neither will we stop praying, two resources that you can never, ever factor into a spreadsheet equation.
I see that smile.