ABSTRACT
The aim of a book publisher is to publish and sell at a profit. Even a not-for-profit publisher will want to at least break even, covering their costs, unless they receive a subsidy from their parent organization. A publisher might previously have cross-subsidized less popular titles from the profits of its top sellers. That approach has largely been abandoned although the high-risk element of consumer publishing does mean that bestsellers compensate for titles with poor sales. Of course a book may acquire value as a collectable object or a great literary work to be admired and studied by future generations, but this chapter will concentrate on the creation of monetary value by publishers as commercial enterprises. How publishers add value is of interest to both authors and readers in an age when self-publishing is quick and inexpensive, and consumers expect digital content to be available at lower prices than physical products.
