

A well-known fellow in the blogosphere published a book a wee while ago. You will probably have heard of it. It’s an important book, he’s got an important job etc etc.

OK, so far he’s sold 25 thousand copies. One of my spies found out for me.

It doesn’t sound like a lot, considering the tens of thousands who visit his website every week.

Another thing. You know how when you go into a large bookshop- Waterstones, Borders, Barnes & Noble etc.?

You know all those tables in the front, with all those lovely books being displayed, right where you can see them?

Guess what? The publisher (i.e. the author) has to pay extra for that space. It’s budgeted under “promotion”. It’s not the bookseller trying to make his shop look prettier.

When you publish a book, the list of people who need to get paid is rather long:

The agent.

The editor.

The editor’s secretary.

The guy in the bookstore.

The other guy in the bookstore.

The guy on TV plugging your book.

The cab driver who took you from the airport to the TV studio so the guy on TV could plug your book.

The guy who drove the truck from the printer’s to the bookstore’s warehouse…

And so on.

Compare that with a blog: I pay for the bandwidth, that’s about it.

Ah, the joys of the paper economy…