Big Sellers In A Depressed Book Market

There have been some very big-selling books this summer, and you’d think the publishing industry would be happy about it. Not exactly. They’re cutting staff and complaining of a slump. Big “sales don’t necessarily mean big profits, especially if everyone is expecting a hit. With Hillary Clinton receiving an $8 million advance, Simon & Schuster needed hundreds of thousands of sales to make money on the book. And Amazon.com, anticipating tremendous competition for the Potter book, offered a 40 percent discount on the $29.99 suggested price. The result: Despite more than 1 million sales worldwide, the online retailer announced it essentially broke even with Order of the Phoenix.”