How many self published books have you sold to date?

We're going to merge this one into the OP's existing thread in Self-publishing on a similar topic; it may be locked for a short time.

I put my first e-book up in late January, and I've sold 3 copies, and 71+ people have downloaded it during the KDP Free e-book promotion thing on this weekend.

Looks like people like free things!! Go figure

And here we are, merged and reopened. KatyPerryFan, please remember: just one conversation per subject in future, thanks.

I took over everything for my own books this year, so I don't have numbers from before then, but here are the figures I do have.

January 2014:
Amadar, novel at $2.99 - 3 paid sales on Amazon, 2 on Smashwords
The Worlds Outside My Window, collection at $0.99 - 1 paid sale on Amazon

February 2014 to date:
Price of Imperium, novel at $2.99* - 7 paid sales on Amazon, 163 free downloads KDP Select.

*Note, published, Feb 7, free for 3 days on KDP select Feb 8-10, all paid sales to date in the initial 12 hours.

Katy, I wanted to thank you for posting all this awesome info below. So helpful! It's so nice of you to have started this thread.

KatyPerryfan19 said:

To clarify, when I wrote "if you know the sales data of other self published authors, please share the links," the links I am referring to are those freely available on the world wide web.

The sales data are shared publicly by the authors themselves with full knowledge that anyone with internet access can view these figures.

For example, MaggieDana shared the link to a page where 625 authors have publicly shared their sales data

http://www.kboards.com/authors/

on another thread at AW. That's the kind of links I was referring to.

or this
http://moirarogers.com/2013/12/the-math-of-quiet-success/
The Math of Quite Success



or this

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303640604579298604044404682
Russell Blake (435,000 sold)
Melissa Foster (400,000 sold)

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I guess my question is, what is the point? We know some self-published authors sell a ton of books and that others sell enough to make a nice living, while others sell a bit less, on down to a few sales a month/year.

That doesn't have anything to do with me or my writing -- the only two things I do have ultimate control over.

It's good to be aware that self-published authors are out there, but what does it mean to me if one is making $5 a year or $500,000 a year? I am not them. Why spend my time reading about other people when I could spend my time writing and honing my craft?

Maybe I'm missing something painfully obvious to everyone else.

merrihiatt said:

I guess my question is, what is the point? We know some self-published authors sell a ton of books and that others sell enough to make a nice living, while others sell a bit less, on down to a few sales a month/year.

That doesn't have anything to do with me or my writing -- the only two things I do have ultimate control over.

It's good to be aware that self-published authors are out there, but what does it mean to me if one is making $5 a year or $500,000 a year? I am not them. Why spend my time reading about other people when I could spend my time writing and honing my craft?

Maybe I'm missing something painfully obvious to everyone else.

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I like numbers with context, particularly in terms of promotions and approaches to see what worked for others and whether I can use it myself.

Not so much the numbers in abstract.

merrihiatt said:

It's good to be aware that self-published authors are out there, but what does it mean to me if one is making $5 a year or $500,000 a year? I am not them. Why spend my time reading about other people when I could spend my time writing and honing my craft?

Maybe I'm missing something painfully obvious to everyone else.

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If I know who's making $5 and who's making $500k, I know who to study, observe, and emulate in my own publishing adventures. And who NOT to emulate, or at least whose advice to take with a grain of salt. If I ask for help on a blurb and these two authors tell me write it two different ways, which way will I go?

I'm in this for numbers and sales and not necessarily honing my craft, so my take might be different, or maybe it just makes me a jerk, I dunno. I spend lots of time studying six-figure mid listers, how they brand, how they promote, how they structure stories, what topics they choose, how they manage and cultivate fan bases, etc.

Really, there's tons to learn from reading/reading about high earners (especially ones that aren't riding on some crazy hit and still make craptons of money). It's fascinating stuff.

Alice Xavier said:

I'm in this for numbers and sales and not necessarily honing my craft, so my take might be different, or maybe it just makes me a jerk, I dunno.

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I don't think it makes you a jerk. Not at all. It just highlights the different ways writers approach their work. It's all good.

Really, there's tons to learn from reading/reading about high earners (especially ones that aren't riding on some crazy hit and still make craptons of money). It's fascinating stuff.

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Just be careful when you extrapolate information from the publishing activities of high earners. Not everything they do adds to their high-earning status, and it's easy to assume that if you do A in the same way that they did, it'll lead to B: when really it was their activities around C which brought them back to B.

(I hope that makes sense, I'm not entirely sure if I've been clear.)

Good publishers, whether self or trade, do all sorts of things well. It's difficult to pinpoint which of those things led to their success; it's even difficult to pinpoint, sometimes, what exactly they did really well rather than just quite well.

I know this because in all the years I've worked in trade publishing I've seen many attempts to identify what makes a best-seller work, what leads to good sales, and so on. I've never yet seen an analysis which led to a repeatable strategy other than the one we've always worked to: publish the best books in the best way possible.

There are no tricks. There are no easy answers. There is nothing which will transform a book from adequate to great. Just make your books the best you can, in all ways, and publish with thought, creativity and integrity.

Alice Xavier said:

I'm in this for numbers and sales and not necessarily honing my craft, so my take might be different, or maybe it just makes me a jerk, I dunno. I spend lots of time studying six-figure mid listers, how they brand, how they promote, how they structure stories, what topics they choose, how they manage and cultivate fan bases, etc.

Really, there's tons to learn from reading/reading about high earners (especially ones that aren't riding on some crazy hit and still make craptons of money). It's fascinating stuff.

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I have to agree with being able to know who to try to model our own business decisions on and having those numbers helps. I'm not sure I agree that chasing the money should take presidence over the craft, which is your implication. I believe the craft will help bring in the money.

But since we're wearing both hats as self-publishers, writers and business people, we should have our eye on both sets of skills.

I would also say that having those numbers available help to keep new self-publishers from spinning off into fantasy land with visions of high sales and fame and acclaim. I really believe that self-publishers as a whole would highly benefit from knowing just what the realistic expectations can be and that's not possible if people don't talk about sales.

On the other hand, Merri has a good point as well. We can be too caught up in who's making the sales and who's not and forget what we're supposed to be focusing on, which is ourselves.

Old Hack said:

I don't think it makes you a jerk. Not at all. It just highlights the different ways writers approach their work. It's all good.

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Yep!

Old Hack said:

Just be careful when you extrapolate information from the publishing activities of high earners. Not everything they do adds to their high-earning status, and it's easy to assume that if you do A in the same way that they did, it'll lead to B: when really it was their activities around C which brought them back to B.

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Also yep. It's not an exact science and while modeling what worked for those we wish to emulate, we should keep in mind that there may be circumstances there, strokes of luck or good timing or just the right about of [insert the right amount of whatever] that propelled the author upward but now the climate may have shifted and it doesn't work so well anymore.

Old Hack said:

There are no tricks. There are no easy answers. There is nothing which will transform a book from adequate to great. Just make your books the best you can, in all ways, and publish with thought, creativity and integrity.

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Pretty much!

Alice Xavier said:

I spend lots of time studying six-figure mid listers, how they brand, how they promote, how they structure stories, what topics they choose, how they manage and cultivate fan bases, etc.

Really, there's tons to learn from reading/reading about high earners (especially ones that aren't riding on some crazy hit and still make craptons of money). It's fascinating stuff.

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One other thing to bear in mind is that not everything these high earners do create sales - sometimes they sell in spite of A, or doing B made up for it. Had they not done A at all, their sales might have been higher yet. (I guess that's along the lines of what Old Hack said )

I'm currently at 255 buys, mostly through a combination of paid promos and discounting the book to $0.99. I've not made my novel free, and will probably not do so until I have 3 more additional books available.

I personally think that deflating some expectations is a worthy cause in itself.

I keep seeing people pushing the idea that self-publishing is better for every writer, and that it's easy to put a book on Amazon and it will sell like hotcakes. It's not common here, but it is on a number of other forums I frequent. I really hate the whole "top 1,000 is a reasonable expectation for most writers" meme that the boosters seem to spend a lot of time and energy pushing. The more we can do to kill that idea, the better off everyone will be.

Success is possible, but I think it should be tempered with realistic expectations.

bearilou said:

I have to agree with being able to know who to try to model our own business decisions on and having those numbers helps. I'm not sure I agree that chasing the money should take presidence over the craft, which is your implication. I believe the craft will help bring in the money.

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Oh, I'm not expecting anyone to agree that chasing money should take precedence over craft - the money is my personal end goal in this game. I only got into self-publishing to make money. I still take craft seriously because having a good product behind the marketing is how you succeed long-term, but for me, the craft is a (very important) vehicle to my end goal (money). I mean, I exploit other creative skills for money (I'm a designer by day), so why not my writing?

shadowwalker said:

One other thing to bear in mind is that not everything these high earners do create sales - sometimes they sell in spite of A, or doing B made up for it. Had they not done A at all, their sales might have been higher yet. (I guess that's along the lines of what Old Hack said )

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This is why it's important to sit down and analyze what they're doing, and to study/mingle with lots of different authors. It's certainly not as simple as taking their methodologies at face value, because there's always, always lots of factors at work. I try to pin down why my own books sell or don't sell, and it's really tough. Is it the cover? The keywords? Timing? Happened to strike a chord that you didn't know existed? There's tons of stuff to consider.

Also, what works really well for one author might not work for you. I know lots of folks who jumped on the billionaire bandwagon post-50 Shades, only to find that they were not successful, or worse, hated writing about billionaires. But while billionaires didn't pay off for them, they hit their stride in other genres. So you never know until you try stuff out. Of course, researching beforehand can give you a leg up.

But at the end of the day, it comes down to what your personal goals are. Mine are to make money, so I study and emulate those who consistently make good money and figure out how to incorporate some of their strategies into my own and create a system that works for me. If you're in it for craft, focus on craft and emulate those whose books you love and truly move you, and if you're in it for fun, go have fun. If the research and all this crap I'm talking about doesn't sound like your idea of a good time, then screw it - writing should be awesome and rewarding, regardless if what that reward is.

Originally, I was published by a company called Virtual Publications. I sold quite a few hard copies with them. The great thing about them was that their books were returnable even though they were POD. I actually was able to get books stores across the country to carry at least one copy. Many stores reorded them after they sold the first copies even without my asking them. But, they went out of business year or two after that (hope it wasn't me that ran them out of business). After a few years of the book being in limbo, I self published an e-book version on amazon and Barnes and Noble. I may have sold 9 copies of the e-book, but I really have not tried to promote it. I just wanted to have it available because people kept asking for it and I've been concentrating on rewriting my next three novels. Hey, at least I have written four complete novels!

I see nothing wrong in wanting to know what sort of sales other self publishers have. Just so long as they are okay with sharing the information. I don't think wanting to sell copies of your book diminishes your artistic drive.

Each and every one of us who self publishes is at one time both an artist and a small business person. The two roles are not mutually exclusive. Wanting to succeed at the business part of self publishing doesn't mean you aren't also a serious author who cares about their craft.

I've written a great deal of fanfiction. Never received a penny for any of it. Went into it knowing I wouldn't. My only reward was the writing itself, and the pleasure I got from knowing others enjoyed my work. I wrote those stories because I loved writing and I did the best I could with each.

When I write original material for self publishing I want it to sell. I want to make money from my stories. My dream is to be able to make a living at this, whether by self publishing or trade publishing. I have no problem admitting that. I will say it proudly.

Yet when I write I still enjoy it. I still want it to be a great story. Not solely for monetary gain, but because I love writing. Even if I were not to make any sales I would still strive to write the best story I could.

I don't see any contradiction in wanting to write well and also sell well.

LOTLOF said:

I see nothing wrong in wanting to know what sort of sales other self publishers have. Just so long as they are okay with sharing the information. I don't think wanting to sell copies of your book diminishes your artistic drive.

Each and every one of us who self publishes is at one time both an artist and a small business person. The two roles are not mutually exclusive. Wanting to succeed at the business part of self publishing doesn't mean you aren't also a serious author who cares about their craft.

I've written a great deal of fanfiction. Never received a penny for any of it. Went into it knowing I wouldn't. My only reward was the writing itself, and the pleasure I got from knowing others enjoyed my work. I wrote those stories because I loved writing and I did the best I could with each.

When I write original material for self publishing I want it to sell. I want to make money from my stories. My dream is to be able to make a living at this, whether by self publishing or trade publishing. I have no problem admitting that. I will say it proudly.

Yet when I write I still enjoy it. I still want it to be a great story. Not solely for monetary gain, but because I love writing. Even if I were not to make any sales I would still strive to write the best story I could.

I don't see any contradiction in wanting to write well and also sell well.

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Exactly my thoughts. Don't think this could have been said any better. If I were independently wealthy, I wouldn't care an iota who and why certain self-publishers sell better than others. But I'm rather poor, so I care a lot. Doesn't mean I don't care about also producing a great book. Something to think about: The one thing that surprised me the most in my self-publishing research is that great editing is not all that important for a self-published book. Have stumbled upon several moderately to very successful self-published books in which there were several grammar/ spelling errors. In some on almost every page. It seems that, as long as you have a good voice and/or story, many readers don't care if it's not perfectly edited.

LOTLOF said:

I see nothing wrong in wanting to know what sort of sales other self publishers have. Just so long as they are okay with sharing the information. I don't think wanting to sell copies of your book diminishes your artistic drive.

[...]

I don't see any contradiction in wanting to write well and also sell well.

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I think it's great to want to do both.

I think it's great to want to write well, and to not focus on how many books you sell.

What I don't like is wanting to sell a lot but not caring if your writing is up to scratch.

At that point, you're exploiting your potential readers in a very cynical way.

juliatheswede said:

The one thing that surprised me the most in my self-publishing research is that great editing is not all that important for a self-published book. Have stumbled upon several moderately to very successful self-published books in which there were several grammar/ spelling errors. In some on almost every page. It seems that, as long as you have a good voice and/or story, many readers don't care if it's not perfectly edited.

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GahHH!!!!!!!!!

"Editing" is not concerned with correcting grammar and spelling errors. Editing deals with structure and plot and flow and characterisation. If your book isn't edited, your book is not likely to have that "good voice and/or story". Copy editing will deal with the spelling and grammar issues that you describe, but that should only happen after several editing passes.

Old Hack said:

GahHH!!!!!!!!!

"Editing" is not concerned with correcting grammar and spelling errors. Editing deals with structure and plot and flow and characterisation. If your book isn't edited, your book is not likely to have that "good voice and/or story". Copy editing will deal with the spelling and grammar issues that you describe, but that should only happen after several editing passes.

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It actually made you that mad that I didn't differentiate between content editing and copy editing...? Then, to be clear, I've found moderately successful to very successful in which both suffered equally. I'm not advocating skipping good content and copy editors, but I'm finding that apparently many readers don't care. In my humble opinion, a good voice will remain even if you haven't used a content editor.

juliatheswede said:

It actually made you that mad that I didn't differentiate between content editing and copy editing...?

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I think she was less mad and more aggravated considering the conflation of the two is a common error.

But I'm not Old Hack so I probably should not speak for her.

juliatheswede said:

Then, to be clear,

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Always a good idea from the outset.

juliatheswede said:

I've found moderately successful to very successful in which both suffered equally. I'm not advocating skipping good content and copy editors, but I'm finding that apparently many readers don't care. In my humble opinion, a good voice will remain even if you haven't used a content editor.

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I'd say that many readers don't care, as long as they enjoy the story. Then, they tend not to mention it. They appear to be far more forgiving.

If they don't enjoy the story, I've found that they will first comment on the lack of editing in their negative reviews.

But that's all anecdotal from my reading of 1 star reviews.

juliatheswede said:

It actually made you that mad that I didn't differentiate between content editing and copy editing...?

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No. I found it irritating that you implied that editors do nothing more than look for problems with spelling and grammar. It gets tedious having my profession dismissed in this way by people who don't seem to know what it involves.

Then, to be clear, I've found moderately successful to very successful in which both suffered equally.

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I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean here. Perhaps if an editor had checked your sentence for you, your meaning would have been clearer.

I'm not advocating skipping good content and copy editors, but I'm finding that apparently many readers don't care. In my humble opinion, a good voice will remain even if you haven't used a content editor.

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Just as editors do more than correct spelling and grammar, they also do more than enhance a writer's voice.

Note that a good voice can't compensate for a plot that's so full of holes all the important bits of story keep on falling out, or for embarrassing continuity blunders, for example. Readers do notice these things when they're there, and they will penalise the books for them.

If readers really didn't care about these things, trade publishers wouldn't spend so much money on editing.

It's not always going to be financially viable to hire an editor for a self-published book: but it is worth looking into the possibility to see if you can afford it. You do want your book to be the best that it can be, especially if you're going to self-publish: but there is a balance to be struck between professionalism and expense.

juliatheswede said:

It actually made you that mad that I didn't differentiate between content editing and copy editing...? Then, to be clear, I've found moderately successful to very successful in which both suffered equally. I'm not advocating skipping good content and copy editors, but I'm finding that apparently many readers don't care. In my humble opinion, a good voice will remain even if you haven't used a content editor.

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I have to admit that it irritates me when people conflate content editing and copy editing, especially when they're disparaging the work of editors.

It's like saying a mechanic is no good because a car they worked on has a bad paint job, even though the bodywork was done in a different shop.

Every book requires editing, whether by the author or someone else. Many self-published books suffer from the double whammy that not all writers have the skills to edit their own work properly, and the fact that it's much harder to edit your own work than someone else's.

Dave.C.Robinson said:

Success is possible, but I think it should be tempered with realistic expectations.

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Success is possible....

Really, that's why I welcomed seeing this question posted. While we have a few UNTEACHABLE stories to enjoy, many of the writers at AW are open about their struggles to sell their work. At all. I appreciate their honesty.

I just want to hear that success is achievable for more than a lucky handful. In the next few years, I'd like to make a living at this.

AnneGlynn said:

I just want to hear that success is achievable for more than a lucky handful. In the next few years, I'd like to make a living at this.

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I'm banking on this, too. It seems that more than a lucky few can make a living writing books. From where I currently stand, however, I can't say for sure. It's too new (published first book on 2/6/14) and I'm thrilled to be published and have three sales! (pretty sad, I know, but it crosses two items off my bucket list - publish and sell)

Whichever way it goes, I'll still be writing. It's either writing for clients or writing for me, or both. Either way, I'm good.

I only recently published my book on healthy living / vegetarian recipes in late November. It sold quite well during the holidays and continues to sell a few copies even without much promotion yet. I am just now working on finishing up the digital versions and planning more of a promotion when that is in order but I just checked and the current #'s are:
Amazon.com - 59 units
In person sales - 45 units

I am looking into alternatives there to lower my per unit cost because the book sells well in person / off the shelf. There is a lot of color in it and people seem to respond to it when they see a copy. I mention this because I have several bookstores who already want to carry it but as is, my current cost per book is $9 + authors profit (say I would like to get $3 per copy) + the stores markup would put my 100 page color book at over $20 per book which is not likely in my opinion to sell. I think its max worth $15 which is what I have it priced at when I sell hard copies. I just found a print shop today that I may be able to work with.

Either way, in roughly 3 months I have sold over 100 hard copies of my book. I think that's a good start!