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Book Publishing: The Most Creator-Friendly Industry?
Book Publishing: The Most Creator-Friendly Industry?
 ### David Perell@david_perell
Is book publishing the most creator-friendly industry?
The CEO of Macmillan says yes: "Authors get a bigger percentage of total revenue here than in any other creative output, and we don't have that Hollywood Accounting craziness. Our contracts are straightforward."
Other highlights from the interview:
- Publishers don't generally accept direct book submissions. For example, 99% of the books Macmillan signs come through literary agents or established relationships, meaning that the gatekeeping happens a step earlier than most people assume.
- Roughly half of Macmillan's revenue comes from the backlist, books more than a year old. They behave like annuities with recurring revenue that's driven by word-of-mouth rather than continual marketing spend.
- Within a single publishing house, there will often be many different imprints that'll compete internally for the same book.
- Self-publishing is overwhelmingly digital: self-published authors do 95% of their sales as ebooks, while traditionally published fiction still moves roughly 70% in physical formats.
- Children's books have lower margins than adult novels because a 32-page picture book costs as much to print as a 400-page novel, but novels cost ~$30 while children's books sell for closer to ~$20.
01:28
#### David Perell
@david_perell · 2d ago
Jon Yaged runs Macmillan, one of the five biggest publishers in the world, so I asked him to explain the book publishing industry to me.
My main question: why should authors work with a traditional publisher, especially when self-publishing is taking off?
What I got was a full tour of how book publishing works. Everything from how authors make money, to how publishers choose which books to back, to the traditional vs. self-publishing debate.
Timestamps:
2:01 Consolidation in book publishing
4:01 Celebrity books
7:57 The scale of the publishing industry
9:48 How to get your book published
14:15 New York
16:25 Using data to find great books
29:33 How to work with a publisher
31:11 The economics of a book deal
36:42 How sequels work
42:21 Children's books
48:42 Books in Europe vs. America
50:25 Should writers use AI?
1:00:57 How printing works
1:04:52 Book marketing advice
1:09:48 What a publishing CEO does
1:11:06 Audiobooks
1:15:17 Are people getting stupider?
1:18:20 The publisher business model
1:19:08 Macmillan
I've shared the full interview with Jon Yaged below. If you'd rather watch or listen to the interview somewhere else, check out the first reply tweet where I've linked to the interview on YouTube, and also on Apple / Spotify.
Enjoy!Show More
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Mar 20, 2026, 8:06 PM View on X
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6,264 Views  David Perell @david_perell
One Sentence Summary
Macmillan's CEO shares insider insights about why book publishing offers authors better revenue splits than other creative industries, plus key industry dynamics like backlist revenue, gatekeeping via literary agents, and self-publishing trends.
Summary
This tweet summarizes key insights from an interview with Jon Yaged, CEO of Macmillan (one of the world's five largest publishers). The thread highlights that book publishing may be the most creator-friendly industry, as authors receive a higher percentage of total revenue compared to other creative fields, without the problematic 'Hollywood Accounting' practices. Other notable points include: 99% of Macmillan contracts come through literary agents rather than direct submissions; roughly half of revenue comes from backlist titles (books over a year old) acting as annuity-like recurring revenue; different imprints within a single publisher compete for the same books; self-publishing is dominated by ebooks (95%) while traditional fiction still sells 70% in physical formats; children's books have lower margins due to printing costs not scaling with page count.
AI Score
81
Influence Score 7
Published At Yesterday
Language
English
Tags
Book Publishing
Macmillan
Self-Publishing
Traditional Publishing
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