Do publishers ever make millions? I actually suspect not,
though one must envy Bloomsbury the Harry Potter books. Or should we?
Bloomsbury now has something to live up to. They have had to expand. Can they
keep up with that expansion? They seem to be doing well but is this a case of
having to do well?
Certainly most publishers who have offices in London have to
have a very commercial attitude to the book they publish. Will this book sell
enough to cover the overheads? Even here, though, there is a love of books
involved. Editors proudly keep copies of books they have worked on on their
shelves, near their desks. Most involved in the industry work long hours but it
doesn’t matter because they love their work. I’m pretty convinced that if they
put the amount of business energy into almost any other sort of enterprise
they’d make a lot more money.
The small presses have a little more freedom, fewer
overheads and make little money at all. They are careful with their money and
work in such a way that they don’t go under. Well most of them don’t. A few do.
The people who work for them love books and thus spend their time doing
what they enjoy. Of course they should be paid fairly for what they do and as
long as they are, they’re not bothered about not making millions.
I work with texts all the time, yet many a time I’ve gone clothes
shopping and come back with even more books. They’ve made me very happy.
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