"Thanks, but these numbers are just so disappointing."
This is an email I received recently from an author who has objectively sold more books in his first week than most authors in his category sell in a year. He's a successful entrepreneur with a huge name and reputation, and had multiple big press appearances for his book including being a guest on one of the biggest late-night TV shows on air. As publishers, we were thinking "Wow! What a great success!". As a business man who's had success in other industries, he was thinking "Why is this number so small??" His editor, who worked at one of the most prestigious lifestyle publishers for over 20 years, responded "In my 20 years of being an editor, I don't think I've ever seen a book hit over 2,000 copies in its first few months."
A book that debuted as #1 on the NYT Bestseller list back in February sold 986 copies that week. Admittedly, the #2 on the list sold thousands--that just goes to show you the subjective nature of the bestseller list and how it's really not a true reflection of which books are selling best--but still. 986 copies.
Reese Witherspoon's book club pick for April 2024 was first published in 2019. After five years, she chose it for her book club.
One of the shortlisted nominees for the National Book Award, arguably one of the biggest literary awards, has sold only 3,000 copies to date and it's been out for 9 months. Another book that was featured multiple times in Oprah, on Good Morning America, and has been mentioned in over 30 press publications has sold 4,000 copies to date and it's been out for two years.
I say all of this not to be discouraging, but to help shine light on this point: books simply don't sell the way other consumer products do. If you're a beauty brand, or an underwear brand, or you're selling home accessories, you can dump money into advertising and see a fairly predictable lift in sales. 99% of the time with books, you will never make a return on ad spend investment. There is no quick, easy, surefire way to sell a million copies. The first print run of the first Harry Potter book was 500 copies. That's it. Look at it now--about 25 years later, it has sold 120 million copies.
Books take time to gather momentum, to find their audience, to become a beloved classic. We live in a time where product launches mean everything because we assume that if something is old news, people won't care about it. In some cases, that's true. But books aren't commodities, they're unique.
Think about the most recent book that you read and loved. I'll use my own example of Martyr! It came out in January, I read about it in February, I bought the book a few weeks later, and I finished it in March. And I'm a unique case because I read extremely fast, and I have a running list of books that haven't yet released that I'm dying to get my hands on the second they're in stores. If we're talking about a new, "hot" title, the average person waits ~6-12 months after the book has launched to buy it. They may have other books they want to get through first, but if they do start reading it immediately, it probably takes a month or two to finish it. So 8-14 months after that book has launched, an excited reader is finally ready to tell others to read the book.
If you're writing a book, or you've already published your book, remember that books take time. There's no silver bullet, there's not one single piece of press that can guarantee an overnight bestseller. Be patient with yourself, know that you can have massive success from your book years after its release. Know that what you've written is important, it does have an audience who wants to read it, and it may take time to find that audience. If you're marketing-inclined, keep reminding people about your book, take the time to do book events years after its launch. Don't give up on your book because it didn't sell a million copies in week one. Don't give up on it because it didn't sell a hundred copies in week one.
I wanted to publish this post because I've had so many conversations with authors in the last few weeks that make me realize we need far more transparency about the numbers behind books. Lots of authors have splashy campaigns, lots of books seem to be "doing amazing", but when you pull back the curtain you realize that most of those books have been out for months if not years, or the campaigns have been extremely expensive and don't result in actual sales.
This industry is a strange one, but I love it. I love that you can't easily buy your way into book success and fame. I love that the best books are the ones that are underestimated or undervalued at first, but organically find their readers. I love that more and more people are talking about books on social media, and I love that reading seems to be "cool" again. I want to make sure that YOU as an author know that your book is meaningful and it will find its place. If you've written a book, be proud of yourself for having done that in the first place. It's something everyone thinks they can do, but few people actually do.
Send this post to anyone who needs to hear it <3
I'll be sharing another Author Love Note soon...