How publishers are increasingly losing money on books

[Brian G Turner]

An interesting account on how the industry has changed over the past couple of decades, and how consolidation in retail means fewer books end up on bookshelves - and more titles end up losing money:

The reality of publishing economics has changed for the big players - The Shatzkin Files

the big houses used to be able to count on a sale of 1500 or 2000 copies for just about any title they published. Now it is not uncommon for books to sell in the very low triple digits, even on a big publisher’s list.

...

While the potential wins have become exponentially bigger than they were in bygone days, the losses have become increasingly common.

 

[Justin Swanton]

I read somewhere that about 60% of books published don't make back costs. This confirms it.