Archive for April 25th, 2006
Adult Filmmaker Allows Downloads to DVD
“A top producer of hard-core porn will start selling downloadable movies that customers can burn to DVD and watch on their TVs, illustrating how Southern California’s multibillion-dollar adult entertainment industry may again set the technological pace for Hollywood.
“Hollywood has resisted burnable discs that can be watched on televisions because they fear piracy. It also doesn’t want to alienate retailers, which sell most of its DVDs. But if history is any guide, the online experiment by adult entertainment giant Vivid Entertainment Group will be watched closely by mainstream studio chiefs.”
Dawn C. Chmielewski and Claire Hoffman. Porn Industry Again at the Tech Forefront. LATimes.com. April 19, 2006.
See also:
Brett Pulley. The Porn King. Forbes.com. March 7, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Editor Reveals How Books Make Money
Via Copyfight, I found an entry about how trade publishers justify buying or not buying a title. It seems much of the decision is based upon profit-loss analysis.
A P&L is done a couple of different times. The first time is when we are estimating what we think we will spend on a book versus what we think we will make. If we buy the book, P&Ls are done throughout the book’s life.
In order to buy a book at Tor, we have to fill out a P&L to make sure that the book will be profitable. I am going to give you a basic rundown of the things that we include in our P&L. Every company includes this stuff in their P&L.
We are going to do two fake P&Ls. These are totally made up, but the numbers are real. For the sake of argument, we are going to make a P&L for a mass market original, and we are going to make a P&L for a book that goes from hardcover into mass market. For the sake of argument, the mass market P&L will be a negative P&L, while the hc/mm P&L will be a positive/neutral one.
This should help authors understand publishing economics, hopefully with an eye toward negotiating better contracts.
Anna Louise’s Journal. P&Ls and How Books Make (Or Don’t) Money. April 20, 2006.
See also:
Denise Little. The Profit Motive. Science Fiction Writers of America. 2001.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
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