Question

A small publishing company is planning to publish a new book. The production costs will include one-time fixed costs (such as editing) and variable costs (such as printing). The one-time fixed costs will total $53,361 . The variable costs will be $9.50 per book. The publisher will sell the finished product to bookstores at a price of $25.25 per book. How many books must the publisher produce and sell so that the production costs will equal the money from sales?

Answer 1

25.25 per book. Cost of book is 9.50. Profit from sale would be 15.75 (25.25-9.50). That means that we will have 15.75 to pay back to the one-time cost of 53,361.
If we take the balance of 53,361, and divide it by 15.75, it will take 3,388 books to zero out the production costs. Any books sold after that would be considered profit to the publishers/writers.

Answer 2

53361 + 9.5b = 25.25b
53361 = 25.25b - 9.5b
53361 = 15.75b
53361/15.75 = b
3388 = b <=== the publisher would have to sell 3388 books