The BackList

This is a retired blog. For the new and improved BackList blog, please visit www.thebacklist.net!

Friday, August 25, 2006

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.

3 Comments:

At 5:58 PM, Blogger Lawrence said...

Felicia,

This comment should be tattooed onto the arm of every new author. Most authors really don't understand how hard it is to sell ONE book, than selling 100,000.

 
At 7:16 AM, Blogger Ananda said...

thank you felicia and lawrence. as a writer who has self-published her own books and is now completing a frist novel, i can appreciate the truth. book writing, publishing, and selling are not for the impatient. it is a journey of many steps and calls you to evovle in a way that will open your spirit to many growth opportunities. one being patience. another being detachment. and my personal favorite is exploring the true reasons why you wrote the book and published it in the first place. for me, this novel has been a nine year journey filled with an incredibly interesting series of ebbs and flows. the beauty of it all is that i have learned things about myself i never knew. it is has caused me to step away from some of my ego stuff and surrender to Spirit. for me it is all spiritual. it is all about allowing Spirit to use me as a vehicle. and on the days that i get caught up in my dreams of achievement and material success, i turn within and seek guidance on just being open to what Spirit wants me to write. i am not saying that it is wrong to pursue writing for abundance, but what i am saying is that for me i am seeking to express my creativity in ways that Spirit directs ... and with that as my guiding intention, i become open to and thankful for all forms of spiritual and material abundance.

felicia, again thanks for all the work you do with backlist. it is very inspiring and informative.

enjoy the fall season.

peace, love and creativity, ananda

ps: excuse in spelling errors... i am on the run ... doing a few creative things while i wrap other things...

 
At 7:19 AM, Blogger Felicia Pride said...

thanks for reading! much success to all your book projects.

 

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