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Showing posts matching the search for book sales statistics

A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Given competing stats about book sales, what is real -- and what is realistic?

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It is Tuesday. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side.  Today's topic takes a look (again) at book sales. Unfortunately, get accurate accountings of book sales across the book industry is very difficult. Book Scan is not accurate. Amazon bestselling rankings have quirks. Publishers do not like to share their sales figures with other publishers, let alone authors. The range that can be found online is wild.  When reading sales figures, it is critical to read them with a jaundiced eye because often these "statistics" come from author groups with great hopes for best sellers among their members. Generally, in my experience, the reports of sales are vastly exaggerated, often because of

A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Your book sales are low; so, why DID you write your book?

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  It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic addresses book sales that are not meeting an author's hopes. Why are my books not selling? That is the typical question at such times. Perhaps the first question should be, "Why did you write the book?" That will help you answer the question about sales and how you should react to the level of sales in a more helpful way. Let's look at some possible reasons: Self-esteem  You wanted your five minutes of fame and thought you could get it with a book; this is not a negative thing -- it can be a very good thing. Even if your sales are low, you can still have your fame. Your book itself is n

A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Sales by Genre and Other Comparative Categories

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  It is Tuesday. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side.  Today's post compares sales by genre and genre-related categories, using 2023 statistics.  Rank-order of sales by genre romance novels/general fiction self-help science fiction memoir business psychology  humor religion/inspiration fitness parenting travel Rank-order of sales by author type politically famous author socially famous author experienced/well published, i.e. established, author author with 2-5 published books first-time author Rank order by author age 21-50 (this group dominates the book scene) 50-70 (this group benefits from their experience and name recognition) under 21 (this is a small group for obvious reasons and there

A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: The Number 22

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It is Tuesday. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side.  Today's topic is brief one, but a very important. It is about the number 22. In brief, 22 is the number (the new, the latest) number is the number of times someone has to see an advertisement of or reference to a book (on average, according to recent statistics) a hard-to-believe 22 times. So, what does that mean for a publisher/author? Repetitive promotion of a book means more than 4-5 times (as in the past). This can be, in part, because of the way social media, which is the most frequent form of advertising (print advertising, in general, has, over time, lost the effectiveness it once had), presents information: mainly through scrolling

A Goodreads Review of A View through the Fog by McGee

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Bob McGee's book,  A View through the Fog , has received a number of reviews of Goodreads -- all outstanding ones. We will be sharing these over the next few weeks. If you want to get them all at once, here you go:  A View through the Fog by Bob McGee | Goodreads . Donna Wattley, awarding five stars, says,  This book was an eye opener. It goes behind the scenes to show what it’s like being a painter on the Golden Gate Bridge. Often comical, sometimes sobering, at times sad, this book is filled with interesting anecdotes that reveal the work culture of the painters, including their many high jinks. The author gives enough detail about the Bridge so you can picture its features, but without being so technical that the book drags, then kindly adds a glossary and bridge statistics at the end. All in all, an enjoyable read. If I can read a book for leisure and learn something from it, that’s my idea of a win. AWARDS Pinnacle Book Achievement Award Literary Titan gold award Eric Hoffer D

A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Insight into Good Book Sales from ...Wait for This...a Political Strategist

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  What do politicians and authors have in common? They each have to reach zillions of people and get them to want their product (the politician himself/herself together with an ideology and the author a book). Here is an interesting insight from a long-term, experienced political pundit, Thom Harmann, that popped up in the scores of articles on the US 2022 midterms, this one from Raw Story , October 25, 2022. It applies to authors just as much as it does to the politicians for which it was written. "While creativity and 'production values' in advertising are important, they’re both subordinate to frequency when it comes to producing results. Even a poorly crafted message for a mediocre product will convince people to act the way you want them to if it’s repeated frequently enough." He goes on to cite supporting evidence accumulated over the past 12 years since the Supreme Court opened the door to dark money and unlimited spending. All the statistics point to his concl