Oddly, I don’t remember obsessing over book sales for my first book. I had a reputable publisher (Transaction Books) and it was on a very timely topic (violence & the drug trade), but my goal was to be heard, not sell books. So, I didn’t pay much attention because I, indeed, became part of the public discussion on this book (and every non-fiction book I’ve published since). (And, as I’ve noted elsewhere on this blog, all my non-fiction books have been financially successful, if not bestsellers.)
It was only as I published more books, that I started paying attention to sales volumes (and revenues). More relevantly (for this post), it was only when I started writing fiction that revenues (and thus sales) became an important part of my strategy: I needed to sell books to fund my fiction writing habit. I needed sales goals, and a marketing strategy for meeting my objectives.
And that’s when I had my “come to Jesus” moment. I found that selling books was really, really hard. In fact, without a mainstream publishing house behind you, reaching a benchmark of 1,000 copies sold would put me in pretty elite company among independent authors. (But not impossible by any stretch. In fact, my publisher, Wheatmark, has a special category for the scores of their authors that have reached 2,000 copies sold.)
Just how many books can you expect to sell if you’re using an independent press, subsidy publisher, or self-publish? Hint: set your expectations well below 1,000. Hundreds is a more realistic number, and the low-end of that. One self-publisher told the New York Times that most books in his stable sell about 150 copies. Irene Watson, who runs the book review websites Readerviews.com and Readerviewskids.com, noted over at Blogging Authors (July 3, 2011) that “Many traditional publishers feel that the self-published book has already reached its audience; in most cases this is less than 200.”
Getting beyond 200 requires a real marketing plan, a strategy, funds to underwrite the plan, and a high-quality product with a broad appeal. Fortunately, due to today’s publishing technology, you can still cover your out-of-pocket costs in this range if your are frugal and highly strategic in the way you approach publishing your book.
