Half of All Traditionally Published Books Sell Fewer Than 12 Copies
This is what I’ve learned and earned from self-publishing
If Moses were to come down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments today, he’d get so pissed off trying to find a publisher they’d end up as a listicle on Medium.
We would all like to write that bestselling book, wouldn’t we?
The acclaim, the fame, the money.
So what are your chances?
The literary world was stunned by the revelation that out of 58k titles published every year, half of those sell fewer than twelve books.
Author April Henry Tweeted her response, which was seen by tens of thousands of people.
It’s beyond belief. Imagine getting traditionally published and seeing it languish on the shelf. Your only sales were the ones you bought your family — and even they aren’t reading it (personal experience).
It’s a depressing thought for writers.
But is it true?
A lawyer from the US Department of Justice made the claims during the antitrust trial involving the largest publisher in the world, Penguin Random House, which wants to buy the third largest, Simon & Schuster.
It appears he pulled the figures from a hat. Another example of fiction posing as facts. Manufactured misinformation to suit the message.
In his podcast, More or Less, economist Tim Harford got to the truth — but it isn’t exactly inspiring.
His researcher looked at the top ten publishers. There were 42,000 unique titles published in the last year. Of those, 15% had sold less than 12 copies — not 50%.
That’s still 6,300 traditionally published authors staring at their books on a shelf and wondering if all their time and effort would have been better spent growing turnips.
At the top end, only 0.4% of books sold 100k copies or more.
For a book to be commercially viable, it needs to sell over 5,000 copies. The more frightening statistic is that 86% of books published sell less than the magic 5k break-even number.
The fact is, most books don’t sell a lot of copies and don’t make any money. Statistically, you have about a 9 in 10 chance of losing money publishing a book by traditional methods — that’s a lot of sweat and tears for nothing.
Maybe the 21st Century Moses was on to something by joining Medium.
Book publishing is a numbers game
The bestselling books make up for the flops. Publishers survive because the 1% who reach the top ten bestsellers’ list make them a wad of cash.
These runaway winners pay the author handsomely. John Grisham is worth about $400 million, James Patterson $800 million, and J. K. Rowling $1 billion.
It’s the herd mentality.
Imagine arriving in a city for the first time and you are hungry. You don’t have time to check out the reviews of all the nearby restaurants — what do you do?
Most of us would walk past the empty restaurant and look for a busy one. Social proof. It must be good if others are using it.
Bestseller lists influence us in the same way. Everyone else is reading them, so I should, too.
Self-publishing
I wrote a book — yay!
People liked it, so I wrote some more.
I actually started and finished writing a book. According to The Synergy Whisperer, 97% of people who start writing a book never finish it.
I had imposter syndrome. I never believed I’d get a publisher, and I was smart enough to avoid vanity publishing, so I went down the self-publishing route.
I had to learn a heap of new skills. I was fortunate enough to have a son design a decent cover for me — he gets paid in beer and meals out. If you don’t know anyone, pay for a professional. Your book cover matters.
I made the mistake of not paying for an editor. Fortunately, with self-publishing on Amazon, I can amend the content after uploading and publishing. I’ve updated them several times. Dyselxia is a bitch.
Top tip 1: edit, EDIT, edit, edit again, edit some more, edit — oh, and did I mention you should edit it?
Top tip 2: get beta readers. Give them a copy, three colours of marker pens, and the licence to rip your book apart.
Top tip 3: see top tip №1.
Top tip 4: get yourself a presence on social media.
People need to know and trust you to buy your books. They won’t sell themselves. I believe Quora is a better place to gain interest than here on Medium. Regular posts on Twitter and LinkedIn won’t do you any harm.
Top tip 5: edit. Grammarly the fuck out of your book.
When you are ready, follow the self-publishing guides on Amazon. You will be confused, frustrated, and feel like giving up — then with the press of a button, your book will be live.
Amazon will print your book to order and send it directly to a customer. You can sign into your dashboard and see exactly what is selling, how many, and how much you will earn at the end of the month.
You need to upload your book separately to make it available on Kindle. Definitely do this.
Earnings
My niche is ‘funny police memoirs.’ Then I moved on to a travel guide, quizzes, lateral thinking, and games books (profits donated to charity).
I had a few posters put up where I used to work and in the first few months, I raked in about £500 per month from my police memoirs.
Because Amazon charges for printing and postage, you need to set your paperback book price higher than these costs to earn any money. That is why so many self-published authors set their prices higher than average.
There has to be a balance between sales and profits. Too high and you won’t make any sales and if too low you won’t make any money no matter how many you sell.
I priced my paperback books at £7.99 and Amazon pays me £1.15 for my first book, but because it has more content, I only get 44p for my third book — and I have to pay tax on that.
My Kindle copies sell for £2.99 and Amazon pays me £2.04 for each sale.
I also earn from Kindle Unlimited where I receive a share of royalties based on pages read. This accounts for about 75% of my earnings.
Five years after publishing my first book, they are still making sales and I average about £100 per month. My first book accounts for about half of all my earnings — despite my 3rd and 4th being much better.
Is it worth it
I can’t earn a living from my book sales. I would earn more money going door-to-door selling a ‘No salespeople’ sign.
Writing a book takes a lot of time and effort. Don’t do it if you don’t enjoy it. I was fortunate to have a small pension to live off while I dived into the creative process — and I loved it.
It wasn’t all roasted coffee and milk chocolate. Sometimes I was full of angst — in particular, learning the formatting process prior to uploading to Amazon. But if I can do it, so can you.
I had my expectations dashed several times, and critics can sometimes get under your skin. But I’m proud that I wrote them and I get a warm glow when I pick them up and rifle through the pages.
I don’t know how long my sales will continue, but I’m encouraged that they still sell after five years. The money isn’t anything to write home about — which is why I’m writing about it here.
If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them in the comments or you can contact me via email as per my profile.