# How much do books make?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-books-make/316345
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 9, 2005, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-books-make/316345 "2005-08-09T22:10:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2005, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-books-make/316345/1 "2005-08-09T22:10:41Z")
I’m sure it would be easy enough to find out how much the latest Harry Potter made., but I’m more interested in how much those sleazoid tabloid esq quick book of the scandal of the day make (ex: the latest from the jurors at MJ’s trial, Scott Peterson’s half sister and Amber Frye etc.). any idea on how I could find out?
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### Author:  [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-books-make/316345/2 "2005-08-10T01:09:03Z")
Define “make”. Gross revenue? Net profit?
If you can find sales figures, you can make a guess at the publisher’s gross revenue – figure on roughly 45-50% of cover price times copies sold. Anything more fine-grained than that woud require the sort of inside information you’re not likely to find on the web – how much was spent to market the book, what the author’s royalty rate is and whether it’s based on revenue, on list price, on wholesale price, etc.
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-books-make/316345/3 "2005-08-10T01:29:54Z")
either is fine - I’m looking to feel better about the world by knowing that Amber Frye’s book bombed.
Is that so wrong???
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### Author:  [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-books-make/316345/4 "2005-08-10T01:47:10Z")
> [@wring](#):
>
> either is fine - I’m looking to feel better about the world by knowing that Amber Frye’s book bombed.
Who’s Amber Frye?
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-books-make/316345/5 "2005-08-10T01:54:26Z")
Scott Peterson’s g/f who taped his phone conversations testified against him. posed in Playboy I think, definatly wrote a book.
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### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-books-make/316345/6 "2005-08-10T04:09:46Z")
> [@wring](#):
>
> either is fine - I’m looking to feel better about the world by knowing that Amber Frye’s book bombed.
>
> Is that so wrong???
You got something against people who help bring murderers to justice?
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### Author:  [@Donovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donovan)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-books-make/316345/7 "2005-08-10T08:59:08Z")
> [@commasense](#):
>
> You got something against people who help bring murderers to justice?
I think, if you read both of **wring’s** posts, that he feels that Amber Frye’s book falls under the subset of ‘those sleazoid tabloidesque quick book of the scandal of the day’ - type books, at least that’s the way I read it. I don’t think his characterization is completely unfair, either.
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### Author:  [@Donovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donovan)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-books-make/316345/8 "2005-08-10T09:01:43Z")
> [@Donovan](#):
>
> I think, if you read both of **wring’s** posts…
I think, if you read both of **wring’s** _previous_ posts…
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-books-make/316345/9 "2005-08-10T09:16:24Z")
Hardly a blockbuster:
**[Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) Sales Rank: #3,748 in Books**
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-books-make/316345/10 "2005-08-10T10:09:59Z")
thanks **don’t ask**
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-books-make/316345/11 "2005-08-10T10:45:31Z")
> [@commasense](#):
>
> You got something against people who help bring murderers to justice?
[Moderator hat on]
**commasense**. You’re in General Questions. If you need to pick a fight, take it to another forum.
[/Mod hat off]
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### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-books-make/316345/12 "2005-08-10T15:10:54Z")
My apologies to all concerned. I wasn’t trying to pick a fight or insult anyone.
In my defense, the OP, in post #3, asked a question (“Is that so wrong?”) to which I was responding.
It’s just that by my understanding of the case (which is admittedly limited), Frye, at some risk to herself, helped police catch Peterson, who had murdered his pregnant wife. If it weren’t for the fact that Frye had previously posed for a set of nude photos, she would probably be proclaimed as a hero. But thanks to these rather tame boudoir-style pictures, she has been characterized (unfairly, IMO) as a sleazy tramp.
I enjoy a bit of _schadenfreude_ as much as the next guy, but in this case I think a societal double standard has been applied to a woman whose actions on the whole are more to be praised than criticized.
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-books-make/316345/13 "2005-08-10T15:21:33Z")
w/a/d/r and all, you appologize for the hijack and then continue it?
I lumped her together w/all the others’ who all were capitalizing on their connection with a crime. tabloid, sleazoid etc. if you wish to argue w/me about the characterization and it’s applicability to Ms. Frye, please feel free to open another thread. I simply do not care to rehash \*\* any\*\* of the cases involved in this thread, merely wish to locate a means to discover how much each of these hacks made on their respective “literary” efforts. and if you wish to criticize my characterization of “literary” also please feel free to open another thread in another location. thanks all the same.
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### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-books-make/316345/14 "2005-08-10T15:29:55Z")
Okay, okay. Sorry.