Publishing Gripe #2

Honesty goes a long way. It could go a heck of a long way in publishing. Imagine, if authors were told how their books actually sell! I dare to say the number requests for crazy advances would go down, if authors really understood the playing field (or if they were told their print run).

I think it's interesting how far publishers go to not tell an author how their book is selling. WHY? Yes the majority of authors will be shocked to know that their book may only sell 60 copies a week through major channels. But I personally think it will give authors a realistic picture of things. Yes there will be some disgruntled authors who will ultimately blame the publisher, but isn't honesty the best policy? And maybe a little publishing 101 is just what authors need. Teach them about a little thing called coop. Tell them a little bit about the wonderful policy of returns. I bet that would widen some eyes.

Want the truth? Bookselling is an incredibly hard business!

I was having a conversation with one of my friends who wants to write a book and I told her I think the average book sells 6,000 copies in total. I completely pulled this number from nowhere, but I recently learned that I'm not too far off.

Here's a new book blog that has all kinds of fun facts. One entry in particular has facts that I urge all authors to read.

A great statistic from the Authors Guild: A successful nonfiction book sells 7,500 copies.

Note the word SUCCESSFUL.