Would people actually buy LN ebooks from amazon?

[EcchiOujisama]

My point is, that unless you actually have a track record of selling a lot of books, they expect you to fully pay for the advertising and marketing.  If the only expenses covered by the publisher are printing and the editor, I'm better off paying that out of pocket and keeping 100% of the profits instead of 10%.  

 

I hate paperbacks, and find it insane that publishers expect me to pay $10-20 for a fucking paperback.  It's a massive ripoff.  I can't understand the need for crappy hardcovers or trade paperbacks.  Run 10 or 20,000 and you're looking at less than $2 per book in printing costs.  My agent and I agree that they're just fucking cheap and that's why you see so many overpriced paperbacks and crappy hardcovers.  

 

And yeah, if you move a ton of products a publisher will organize all kinds of things for you that will allow you to make more money than you will on your own, but like I said, you need to be at the very top of the top for that to be more profitable for you as the author.  The main reason to use a traditional is for the vanity of being able to say "I was published by HarperCollins!" or the like.  To some people it's worth making less money to be able to say that, and if that's your priority, more power to you.  All I'm saying is in today's market a traditional book deal is a terrible deal for an author who isn't going to be a mega bestseller or has to financially support the launch of the book anyway.  With all the time and hassle you go through to get an agent you can hit the Amazon bestseller list on your own.