I’ve published 11 books. A couple of them were with university presses, several more were with various Christian publishers, and my most recent book was self-published. Several of my books have received very good reviews. One of them (Finding God in the Shack) exceeded all expectations of commercial performance, particularly after it became a massive bestseller in Portuguese translation. But with the exception of that book, every one of my other books has been a commercial disappointment, certainly for me if not for the publisher.
I was recently sharing my own bad experiences with a friend who has published a couple books of his own. He replied by putting matters into perspective. He began by noting that his most recent book had recently received a very positive review in the prestigious Times Literary Supplement. He reasoned that this would result in an impressive boost in sales and a decent royalty check.
So imagine his reaction when his annual royalty statement arrived and he read that he was owed … $8.
Yes, that’s right: eight bucks.
But in fact, he didn’t respond as you might think. Being the optimist that he is, he immediately saw the silver lining. “Eight bucks is two Starbucks coffees!” he thought to himself. “At least that’s something!”
Then he read further in the statement: “Royalties will not be paid until the amount owing is at least $50.”
Ouch.
Okay, so he can forget about his Mocha Frap: at that rate, it could be years before his book can help subsidize his Starbucks habit.
Eight bucks is definitely at the low end. But the reality is that the average new book published in North America sells fewer than 200 copies … many of them far fewer. For every New York Times bestseller, there are thousands and thousands (and thousands) of books that are launched with the eternal optimism of a blushing author only to sink beneath the waves of obscurity.
