The Nonfiction Author Advantage: Book Sales & Expectations
If you’re looking to publish a book, one of the questions at the top of your mind is likely what you should be expecting when it comes to sales.
“Make my book a bestseller!”
We hear this from clients all the time and it’s no wonder—traditional publishers have, for decades, pushed the idea of book sales being the holy grail of authorship.
Yet with nonfiction titles, that’s simply not the case. There’s so much more to gain through nonfiction authorship than sales alone.
A look into sales figures
To determine if your book is successful or not, basing it on sales alone is not the way to go.
This is partially to do with some confusion in the publishing industry over what a “sale” actually is. There are some definitions out there that often get used interchangeably when they are, in fact, quite different.
These include the number of copies sold to readers, copies sold to stores or shipped to libraries, and the number of copies that were printed. The actual number of books sold is usually a combination of what is sold to stores and readers, plus ebooks and audiobooks.
The book market is a lot different than what it used to be, which was primarily bookstores buying copies and selling them to readers. Now, with the digital marketplace, the reader has the ability to get a copy themselves and in different formats, like ebooks and audiobooks.
The number of books sold from print, ebook (digital), and audiobook sales all have to be calculated separately, which makes the process of determining success based on sales a bit more difficult.
We’ll get into how that’s done in just a minute, but before you publish a book and start thinking that selling is the only way to success, think about how success can be calculated in other ways.
This comes from asking yourself what you can accomplish by self-publishing a book. Apart from generating revenue, can this book give you a new opportunity? Can publishing a book help you establish credibility in the industry you’re in and help you in your career?
Would publishing a book help give you personal fulfillment and increase your professional opportunities (and brand)?
These are things that can be accomplished when you are able to self-publish and get a book in front of crowds of people. In fact, self-publishing a book can help you establish authority as a public speaker and increase your chances of landing gigs.
Sales Sources
As mentioned before, the three main channels you’ll use to measure sales of your books are printed copies, audiobooks and ebooks. A benefit to self-publishing a book is that you have access to your own sales data versus when you go through a traditional publisher.
When you use a traditional publisher, you’ll get a royalty statement a few times a year, but you won’t be able to get a breakdown of where those sales came from – making it difficult to know how many books are selling, from where, and what your competitors are doing!
As a self-published author, you can get a more detailed breakdown of your sales data. Let’s look closer at the three channels:
When taking a look at print book sales, these include books sold in physical stores, books you sell yourself (direct) and ones that are sold through online retailers.
While this might seem overwhelming, as a self-published author, your printer or distributor will report to you the retail sales you receive from the brick-and-mortar stores as well as online channels.
The books you sell yourself will be your responsibility to keep track of (makes sense, right?) These numbers combined will help you determine what your monthly print sales are.
Audiobooks
Audiobooks are a digital format of your book sold as a download. The most common options when selling an audiobook as a self-published author is selling is exclusively through a service like iBooks or Audible, or using a digital distributor to get it out everywhere.
These services will provide monthly reports as well.
Ebooks
Ebooks are a digital format of your book. Copies available for purchase from ebook retailers and lenders will fall into this category, like:
- iBooks
- Kobo
- Nook
- Amazon
Distributors can often work with you to generate sales reports and make it easier to determine the number of copies sold on each channel. It’s also important to make sure you include both US and global sales in your total – with ebooks, retailers often separate the two.
Overall book sales and finding success
So you’re likely wondering how many copies a nonfiction book will sell on average. Coming up with an actual number, again, can be a bit tricky.
It’s important to keep in mind that there are a few books that sell a lot of copies. The most common number of sales for a non-fiction book is typically on the smaller side.
This is because of several factors, but when it comes to self-published authors, a lot of this can be attributed to a lack of research and planning when writing and publishing a book.
It all starts with writing a great book, with a plan, schedule and goal in mind. A smart self-published author also knows they shouldn’t go at it alone. Hiring an editor or a team to help with the process can make a big difference.
This team can help provide key services that can help position your book in a better spot for success, including:
- Outlining
- Helping create/draft a manuscript
- Editing
- Layout & Design, including cover design
- Publication
- Distribution
And of course, marketing. If you don’t market your nonfiction book, especially when self-publishing, it can be extremely hard to get it into the hands of your audience.
Marketing and Advertising
Our team of experts at Visionary Literary is equipped to help you with these processes so that you can have the best chance at success with the sales of your book.
A dedicated launch plan for a new book often includes a range of marketing efforts that can include:
- Social media engagement
- Traditional media
- Email lists
- Interviews
- Advertising
- Book tours
We work with you and your marketing team to devise a plan that works—one that has been proven to help others in your situation. We look into your current following, marketing budget, and the desired goals for your book and plan accordingly.
Why is this important? Because most authors assume the work is over once the book is published and listed everywhere online.
Sorry to say, this is just the beginning.
Public speaking
Another great way to promote sales of your book is within the public speaking space. If you’re already talking in front of a large crowd of people, they most likely have done their research on you. This includes purchasing a book you’ve published.
If they haven’t done their research ahead of time, you have an opportunity to let them know that you have a book available at the end of your gig, or, if you’re booking an event, ask that the organizers purchase a certain amount of copies of the book as a requirement for you to speak.
The relationship between public speaking and publishing a book is mutually beneficial. You have a platform to promote and make more people aware of your book, and you also build authority and credibility that can result in you booking more (and higher-paying) speaking jobs.
This can be a great source of revenue as a result of publishing a book – not just book sales alone!
Becoming a bestseller
If you have it on your mind to become a bestselling author – well, just know it can be tough. And there are different lists, that all measure book sales in their own way.
Amazon categorizes bestsellers in these five ways:
- Hitting #1 on the Kindle store
- Reaching #1 spot in any Amazon category
- Reaching #1 on Amazon books
- Be in top 20 most sold for week
- Be in top 20 most read for the week
Even though there are several ways to reach “bestseller” status on Amazon, a new book typically needs at least 100 sales or more in the first 48 hours for it to reach the top spot in the least-competitive category.
The Wall Street Journal is also something aspiring authors look to as a measure of success. This takes about 6,000 sales over the first week – including pre-ordered books.
This means you don’t technically have to sell all these copies in the first week. If they were available for preorder, you could have been selling them weeks or months beforehand.
Finally, the elite of the elite – the New York Times bestseller list. This list doesn’t look at Amazon sales, but looks at chain stores and independent retailers (with more of a weight on the latter). This can make reaching the NYT bestselling list especially tricky as a self-published author.
The numbers? Hitting usually around 10,000 sales or more over the first week. Again, pre-orders can count towards these sales, but with Amazon and bulk sales not counting, it can be pretty difficult.
Industry averages for book sales
If you’re just looking for some numbers to measure your nonfiction book against, here’s a quick breakdown:
- First week sales: 50
- First-quarter sales: 50
- Daily average: 0-2
- First-year sales: 200
- Five-year sales: 1000
Quite a bit different from the numbers needed to get on the bestselling lists, right? These numbers also assume the author does not have an audience waiting to buy their books.
Numbers considered above average:
- First week sales: 500
- First-quarter sales: 1000
- Daily average sales: 6-10
- First-year sales: 2500+
- Five-year sales: 5000+
Again, finding an average can be difficult – there are so many variables – but having these numbers in mind can help.
Taking the first step
Now you have a clearer set of expectations when it comes to the work of publishing and selling your book and are better equipped to handle the process!
Of course, having a dedicated team behind you to help guide you and assist with helping your book reach its maximum potential doesn’t hurt, either. We even have a blog outlining our proven ROI strategies for non-fiction books.
Want to find out more? Schedule a free consultation with an experienced Publishing Consultant.