Almost everyone who wants to get a book
written, whether they write it them selves or hire a ghostwriter, has
dreams of hitting the best seller list. Or a best seller list. There is
the idea out there that if you can get your book on a best seller list
you've got it made. That may, or may not be true.
Book Sales
Numbers Are Hidden
Best seller lists are really marketing
tools. They were developed on the theory that you are more likely to buy
a book if you know others are buying the same book. It works, but it
also skews our perception of the reality of book sales.
Trade publishers simply don't want the
public to know how many books sell, or at least how many of a particular
book sells. The industry does issue some general numbers, but if you
want to know how many of a particular book sold in a given year, good
luck.
Sure, there are some services you can
subscribe to that will give you some clue, but they're expensive and I
can't think why an author would want that information. You can get some
sense using Amazon's sales rank, but at best it's only an indication.
When it comes to self-publishing, it's
even more difficult. The blog,
PODdy Mouthhas a post dated
Feb. 4, 2008, that gives a decent
overview, but admits actual, reliable numbers are impossible.
You Can Do Your Own
Sales Projections
You can, and should, do your own sales
projections. It's fairly easy to do. If you're working with a trade
publisher, read your contract to figure out about how much you'll make
per book. It's probably going to be around $1 - $1.50 for hardbacks, and
half of that for paperbacks. Keep in mind, that you'll probably have
marketing expenses even with a trade publisher.
If your self-publishing, it's easier to
figure out, until you begin to factor your marketing expenses in. So
much of your book's success depends on the effort you put into
marketing, so don't stint.
Be conservative! Although it's nice to
think you may sell 100s of thousands of copies of your book, your less
likely to be disappointed if you think, at least in the beginning of
100s and maybe a thousand or two a year.
The chances are you won't be able to
make a living with your first book, although it's been known to happen.
Just be clear about the other reasons you're getting a book written.
