Numbers, numbers, and more numbers
In 2004, there were roughly 1.2 million books in print.
80% of those books sold fewer than 100 copies.
98% sold fewer than 5000 copies.
Only a few hundred books sold more than 100,000 copies.
About 10 books sold over a million copies.
Still with me?
Haven’t had a heart attack or gone off to commit suicide at the sudden realization that the chances of hitting the big time after selling your book are just slightly above the chances you’ll find a living, breathing Tyrannosaurus Rex living in the bushes of
Let’s unpack those numbers a little bit more.
First, I’m using 2004 because, quite frankly, that’s the latest date that I have reliable, reasonably complete numbers to work from. The publishing industry is highly computerized, but getting actual, hardcore numbers from publishers is slightly harder than the seven tasks of Hercules. I do have some data from 2005 and 2006, such as the fact that
Second, a lot of those titles were self-published titles by authors who couldn’t find a traditional advance and royalties paying publisher, so they paid some outfit to print up a bunch of copies for them and had an ISBN slapped on the back. I think it is safe to say that self-published books account for a good chunk of those books that sell less than 100 copies.
Third, it is also important to remember that not all books in print were published in 2004 obviously. In the last few years, the number of books actually published per year is in the neighborhood of 175,000. A book stays in print for a number of years and the sales numbers for a title decline over time. The rest of those titles selling less than 100 copies a year probably fall into this category.
Still, even with those considerations, it is clear that only about 10% of books published in any given year will sell over 5000 copies.
For someone wanting to make their living at writing, that’s a scary number.
It’s also the reason that the vast numbers of writers out there do NOT make a living from their craft. The actual number of writers who support themselves and their families from writing in the
Remember, that’s 1 to 2% of those writers who are being published by traditional advance and royalty paying publishers, not of writers in general. That means it’s a very small number indeed.
But if you’re like me, writing is in the blood and you’d do it even if they didn’t pay you to do so.
So what do those numbers mean to me?
They mean I have to treat writing like a business. Not just in the sense of income and expense, which I don’t always have a lot of control over, but in the things that I can significantly impact day after day.
In the way I plan my time.
In the work habits that I cultivate.
In the projects that I select.
In the people I chose to work with.
In the way I control my rights.
In the hundred other little things I can do to ensure that my career is as successful as I hope to make it.
Five years ago I’d never published a thing. Now I’m in that group of writers who routinely sell more than 5000 copies but less than 100,000 copies of each individual work.
But that’s not good enough for me.
I want to reach that next step. I want to break that 100,000 copy barrier. And the only way to do that is to be as diligent as possible in the way I treat my career.
100,000 copies.
That’s my goal.
I’ll worry about that million copy mark next year.
If you liked this post, visit Joe's XtremeLife blog for more of the same. If you're interested in working with him as either a writing or life coach, check out XtremeLife Coaching. Joe's fiction can be found at his official website, JosephNassise.com
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Related posts:
- Shy writers and crunchy numbers
- SEASON OF THE NICHE
- Foreign Rights (or how to sell your novel more than once)
- Who’s Got Your Back?
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Comments
Dear Joe –
If you can crunch the numbers and STILL keep the faith, YOU MUST REALLY LOVE TO WRITE OR SOMETHING!
Good job, man!
Yer pal,
Skipp
I’m with Dave: blithely ignoring it as the only sane response.
It’s pretty much the same attitude I adopted when I was writing the first novel, starting to look for an agent, and getting schooled on how steep the odds were against ever having books published in NYC in the first place:
“Okay. I know the odds. I know the stats. They just don’t apply to me.“
Joe,
Depressing but interesting numbers. Thank you.
Congratulations for making it to the 5000-copy level. As your numbers indicate, that’s certainly not an easy task.
I wish you and all the other Unplug writers success in reaching the 100K plateau.
R C Jones