How many books should i expect to sell

Once I realized this fact I begin to write for myself, what moved me emotionally and if they sold, great. Well, my sales in poetry needed to be for self satisfaction as within the past two years I did not make enough to pay for a good bottle of wine.

With that being said, you are right about advertising on your blog, no one cares this does not sale books either. So, I have given up publishing any poetry books, although I do occasionally write poetry when the mood hits. I am working a another genre, I will see how it does out there in market land. My thoughts is that if it does not sell as self published on Amazon then there is no need to pay for marketing.

I do enjoy your post, they have given me information that I feel is valuable to my writing. Although I still throw an Amazon book at the bottom of many of my post…at the bottom as not to offend those who hate this type of advertising. Good luck to you and have a great weekend. There is no shortage of excellent poetry from the past, and since other poetry enthusiasts are likely to be familiar with those, reading such books makes for great discussion potential.

Another problems is that there are very many styles of poetry, so when customers are looking for poetry, they often seek something specific.

Price is a factor with poetry, too. Poems inherently read better on printed pages. I have seen some authors who have mildly popular novels generate a little sales of poetry from their growing fan base. I myself have purchased poetry collections by authors whose novels I enjoyed. Good luck with your books. Thank you for taking time to give me your opinion as to my work.

Yes the great masters of poetry…their works adorn my home. And poets like myself need to know when to give up and people of your persuasion give us reason to do so. Gook luck with your Blog. Of course, my comments were solely on the difficulty of marketing modern poetry, just about no matter how good the poetry is. It might even prove helpful for getting your poems more attention. Excellent post. I definitely believe quality AND quantity of books are the two main ingredients for success as an indie author.

Having a marketing expert for a partner sure is handy. Quality and quantity is a great combination for authorship. Great post — as usual.

I think a big factor playing into the part is the amount of material out there. So much too read and so few people to read it. If you can manage sales then you are probably lucky. I am just now learning about formatting, covers, social media, all of that factors into sales as well. Good luck. Reblogged this on A Zombie for the Holidays and commented: Great advice! Reblogged this on The Way of the Storyteller:. I published my first indy book three weeks ago — health, non-fiction — and I had NO idea how many sales to expect.

I could easily have become an early quitter. Do you think it is possible for anyone to earn their living as a writer these days? It seems like everyone is writing. Are we all just drowning each other out? Congratulations on publishing your first book. Almost all of them have published several books over the course of several months. I come across a rare author who finds early success or much success with a single book.

In part, you need quality content multiple books that an audience it could be a small niche audience will appreciate, you need to package cover, blurb it in such a way that it helps your target audience find it really, it should attract them , and another important key is a marketing platform that will reach people in your target audience beyond friends, family, and your blog.

For example, if you post a little content regularly that will attract your target audience through search engines, while this may be slow to develop, it has much potential in the long run. Any frequency that shows signs of lasting long-term is a good sign.

Successful nonfiction authors had this in the beginning, often a small frequency, but saw this greatly accelerate after posting multiple books. Your most important blog stat for long-term potential is the number of visitors reaching your blog through search engines.

Only a small percentage may then proceed to buy your book, but this can be substantial traffic in the long run. Think of and research other ways to help your target audience find you. Good luck with your book. Thank you so much for this helpful reply. WP makes it easy to see where the blog traffic is coming from, and it seems to be Twitter at the moment with a few search-engine nibbles. Before reading your post, and reply, I had no frame of reference, so I was probably at risk of getting unduly disheartened.

Thanks again. I would have to go with that original estimate that most unknown authors, with no platform or following, will sell less than copies in the life of the book. Now, I am talking unknown authors with no platform or following, not a high profile person.

I am getting my opinion from the ranking of sales on Amazon regarding my own books. I have published nine books. Some by traditional means and some self-published. By breaking down a particular genre which gives me my target audience and demographic, I can pretty much see how many other books I am in competition with.

My sales have been on average, two 2 sales per month. This includes both print and eBook. This tells me that my measly two books per month is doing better than other books in that category.

Therefore, if the majority is selling on average only one 1 book per month, it would take nearly ten years to get sales. I am telling you my experience because I have read many such articles which lists some high number of sales which I think are unrealistic.

Of course there will always be the exception and might just write the next 50 Shades of Grey. But I find that so many authors are disappointed in their sales because their expectations are far too high. One problem I see with that analysis is that many books sell over copies in the first 3 months and then drop off. Similarly, some books that have yet to sell may pick up in the future if those authors learn and develop long-term marketing skills.

I myself have a title ranked in the high millions, not selling at all now, which sold over copies in one week years ago. Pingback: Monday Must-Reads [ Thank you Chris. You have to put some real effort into marketing and sales. In , our median title the middle book sold copies in the first week. The number is heavily skewed. Keep in mind that this number varies tremendously from one project to the next. Here are a few scenarios:. When we create a dedicated launch plan for a new book, we include a wide range of marketing efforts, including traditional media, social media, advertising, email lists, interviews, and blog tours, to name a few.

Obviously, the more of these you put together, the better your book will sell. After we publish a book, we transition the book to the Author, so we stop seeing direct sales numbers. The average traditionally published non-fiction book sells about copies in the first year, but when we manage a book launch , our target is to sell 1, copies in the first 3 months.

Why 1,? Because at that number of sales, a book has the momentum it needs to keep spreading by word of mouth. BookBub is the most successful book promotion site by far, producing on average additional books on the day of the promotion during our test.

And, again, advertising can make a big difference. By comparison, the average traditionally published book sells 3, copies, but as I mentioned above, only about of those sales happen in the first year. For a traditional publisher to think of a nonfiction book as a success, it has to sell more like 10, copies over its lifetime. But for a self-published Author who fully leverages the expertise, credibility, and profound connection that a great book offers, a handful of sales can bring in a lot of business.

Book sales are more of a marathon than a sprint. Sticking around with a decent number of sales week-in and week-out is a lot better than rocketing into the ranks for one day and then plummeting into obscurity. Authors who worry less about rank and more about consistently reaching the right people—people who will read and love their book—often end up with a much wider reach, and much more lucrative results.

Keep in mind that each list has its own system for measuring sales numbers, so one bestselling list is not the same as another. For Amazon, it depends which list you mean. There are several ways for a book to be called an Amazon bestseller :. If that sounds like a lot of ways, well, it is. Amazon is great at selling books. It gives Authors a lot of roads to success, and its algorithm rewards that success. Reaching the top rank in any category on Amazon will earn your book an orange bestseller flag.

But some categories are easier to top than others. There are a lot more books on marketing than there are on boat building, so it takes more sales to capture the 1 marketing spot. That said, a new book usually needs sales or more in the first 48 hours to capture the top spot in its least-competitive category.

Reaching 1 on the entire Kindle store takes a lot more sales. Even selling enough to hit the top is a challenge. Why is it so difficult to hit the top ? Because Amazon rewards consistency. Selling 75 books every day for a month is harder to do than selling 75 books just once. Hitting 1 here is even harder. Because Amazon Books includes every kind of book:.

Topping this list means topping the sales of every edition of every book on the planet, at least for an hour.

Keep in mind that your book is competing against every other book available, fiction and nonfiction. Amazon also reports the top 20 most sold and the top 20 most read books each week, separated into fiction and nonfiction. Kindle readers track the number of pages read in a Kindle book, giving Kindle Unlimited and Prime Reading books a huge leg up in every Kindle category. My point is, a book can grow, it might take some time but if your feedback is strong and sales start picking up, it might be worth the climb to the top of the mountain.

I feel very encouraged. Check it out here if you guys are interested. Irrevocable Consequence by Anastasia Simonds. May we all have success! Thank you everybody for your personal perspectives. I learned much about the law and how ineffective it is for family trying to help someone.

I have always journaled, but this book was my way of dealing with each step of this journey and my effort to help others experiencing the same. I am just beginning to reach out to publishers, not because I am looking to make money, but I want to impact as many lives as possible and this book is my way of doing so. I feel a publisher has so much to offer in critique and making certain that my many references are given due credit.

Just waiting for the right door to open! The publisher requested a cover I thought was appropriate. The day before she published it with Amazon, she changed the title and the cover. So very frustrated. Authors and readers have messaged me and commented on why the covid mask?? How does that relate to sales??

I believe the title and cover would have been much more appealing to the genre than a vague title and a covid mask cover, but I have to leave it to God. Continuously have to remember this! Your content is wonderful — so glad I stumbled upon it! Each article is packed with helpful info and encouragement for writers. You can unsubscribe at any time with one click.

Share By Steve Laube On June 24, Next Post ». Paul Shepherd June 24, at am. Great analysis Steve. Would be great to catch up Reply. Maco Stewart June 24, at am. Important post, thanks for revisiting the topic, Steve. Bryan Mitchell June 24, at am. This is cool to know. Andrew Budek-Schmeisser June 24, at am. Judith Robl June 24, at am. Praying your day today will be easier, Andrew.

May God fill you with his grace and peace. Judith, thank you so much. Things are hard but He is here, and I rejoice. Rhone' Sunnier Louviere' September 4, at pm.

Pat Butler June 24, at am. Very good info. Thank you. Training for the climb. Lillian June 24, at am. Jeanne Takenaka June 24, at am. Tina Radcliffe June 24, at pm. Once again. Good info. Terri Gillespie June 25, at am. Brennan S. McPherson June 27, at am. James July 6, at pm. Harry Hough July 30, at am. Andre Michael Pietroschek August 12, at pm. So the markets can be considered:Destroyed. Another dying industry, no big surprise.

David J Bartlett June 4, at am. James Watkins August 22, at am. Johnkasaona gmail. Keep it simple and straightforward bruh. Sebastian January 31, at am. Olivia May 9, at am.

Hanyane Chrispen May 12, at am. Miralee August 3, at am. Edmund May 12, at pm. Sarah De Mey May 23, at am.

Interesting analysis.