I may have mentioned this before, but that's not what publishers said in the '90s, when book prices were increasing rather quickly. Then, it was "paper is costing more and more!"
And, of course, editing and typesetting are done once and should be a flat fee, not a percentage of profits.
Finally, "marketing" is something that doesn't seem to happen to most authors.
Simple to try this yourself. Print 1000 copies of your book, record the price.
Then hire a professional copyeditor to do line edits, an illustrator/designer for the cover, and a professional typesetter for the content, a professional indexer if it is non-fiction. Pay for targeted ads to reach 1000 click-throughs of consumers with an interest in your book.
What proportion of the cost was printing?
It is true that a lot of publishers don't spend a lot on marketing. This has noticeably dropped off since 2004 when my first book was published. But it is not true that a publisher who is investing the cost in getting the book out the door is likely to do no marketing. Of course they want the author to market as much as possible. But there will typically be a budget line, at least as big as the advance, often an order of magnitude bigger.
> should be a flat fee, not a percentage of profits
You are welcome to publish via vanity press. Where you pay this flat fee upfront. It is a percentage, for the same reason that investors take a percentage of your business, to distribute the risk. Most books lose money. Most books never make their 'flat fee'.
Now print 100,000 copies and see how the numbers align. Sure, almost no books do that, but it's still how the deal works.
> via vanity press.
You realize the general procedure recommended in the self publishing industry is to hire a reputable editor, pay them several thousand dollars, and get results that are comparable to assorted well respected publishing companies.
Yes, the author is taking all the risks. On the other hand, given how little authors are paid, I suspect they're taking all the risks anyway.
I will be over the moon if my novel sells 100k. From what Stross has blogged, I’ve been limiting my fantasies to no more than 10k, and suspect that 1k is much more likely.
And, of course, editing and typesetting are done once and should be a flat fee, not a percentage of profits.
Finally, "marketing" is something that doesn't seem to happen to most authors.