THE Group for Authors! discussion

I'm wondering what kind of sales numbers would make an author feel successful. Not everyone will sell as many books as James Patterson, but in the KDP thread, authors sometimes feel good about their sales, or bad, and that made me curious about what success look likes to each author. A certain amount of revenue? Good reviews? Just getting it out there?

Fair question. It depends I guess on what the author wants. If he wants best-seller status then it's a number sold. If he wants fans...then giving away 50k free books could be success. Movie rights, etc. Personally I think that it's whatever you are content with, reaching your own goal. If my stories stay on peoples shelves after I am dead then I will be a success, I think.

Kevin wrote...I'm wondering what kind of sales numbers would make an author feel successful. Not everyone will sell as many books as James Patterson, but in the KDP thread, authors sometimes feel good about their sales, or bad, and that made me curious about what success look likes to each author. A certain amount of revenue? Good reviews? Just getting it out there?

Kevin,

Everyone has a general idea what success is, for them.

But if you are talking literary success, then there is a set criteria in the recognized awards that are given. Pulitzer, Booker, etc.

Now if you are talking about commercial success, again there is a criteria judged by sales. Generally in the tens of thousands. Still, a commercial successful author could be a hit today and a flop tomorrow. Those that succeed commercially usually are very prolific in the number of books they can put out.

Now personal success is different for each writer. Personal success for many writers could be as you noted, just getting their work out there instead of gathering dust in some drawer or on some hard drive.

But in my opinion, its the easiest form of success to achieve these days and does not really tell us where we stand as writers. Sort of like the apple on the lowest branch of a tree, easy to pick...

Or so are my opinions and I am sure some will disagree with me. That too is acceptable...

For me success is a moving target. At first it was writing something worth reading. Then it was publishing it, like Kevin said, knowing that part of your legacy is a book out there with a glass of water on it.

However, now that it is out, I would like people to buy it because the book had an important story that I wanted to share with the world - so far my world is very small.

At least I can say, "I'm an author" - that and a $2.25 will get you a cheep cup of coffee. I'm also an artist, and I can say that I'm a professional artist because I sold one painting. What does that mean - a garage full of masterpieces that after last Christmas not even my kids want. I should have solace knowing out there somewhere one of my paintings is hanging on someone's wall - that is unless they took it down and sold it in a garage sale.

So in parting, success to me - is getting up every morning.

Some "cheep" self promotion there... :)

Dean wrote: "Some "cheep" self promotion there... :)"

Cheep! The Hell I say! My hobbies are expensive! I'm not promoting anything, will.... perhaps I was promoting my inability to market my weaknesses. Besides, I was agreeing with you on the subject of leaving something behind - besides an old pair of shoes and dentures.

I've always wondered this myself, and I hit a small goal (although reviews would be the loveliest thing possible to know good or bad thoughts...but onward)but when I read a lot of the authors on KDP I really feel quite inadequate to say the least. I'm not selling thousands by the month like they proclaim, I'm not selling hundreds yet...I'm still new and this is my first book. Another reason I don't hop on those boards. Not sure if its really that good for them or they have an overinflated ego which doesn't work well with my inadequate thoughts.

I'd say if you're someone that at least a few people can say, "Hey I know this author that writes stuff you might like" then to me that would be pretty good.

J.S. wrote: "I've always wondered this myself, and I hit a small goal (although reviews would be the loveliest thing possible to know good or bad thoughts...but onward)but when I read a lot of the authors on KD..."

Now that is something I can agree with....if I could only find that one person! If I'm honest with myself, I never in my wildest dreams ...old cliche ...let me rephrase this, there wasn't even a faint flicker of imagination that said "author". So, like you, I am pleased when someone likes what I've written. I'll lift my cup and toast to you. Cheers

Yup, just to know people like and want your work is pretty good to me, reviews would be wonderful too, and as for the rest, I can dream big eh? But what I want is for my work to be read, so I guess every reader who enjoyed it is another success.

Success for me was the day I stopped thinking that I was rubbish at everything I did. That particular day I was brave and successful enough to put my book out there, (inner success) much more than the physical act of publishing a book. I still mostly resort to the less positive beliefs, but the day might come around again when I am 'successful' again.

S.J. wrote: "I am measuring my success in stages.
First, finished a book.
Second, published it.
Third, people bought it
Fourth, readers took the time to post reviews
Fifth, I enioyed the experience and wrote an..."

What a great answer. Sums it all up. I wish there was a "like" button here, lol.

I'd like to be a bestselling author, and maybe win a few awards or even a deal with Hollywood.

But that's not easy to achieve, so I'm being more realistic. Not that I no longer hope to achieve the above, I just know it is not an easy feat.

As of now, I hope to gain a following. I have one book out so far, and some have liked it and would like to read it's follow-up. It did well during a free day on KDP, so that's amazing. But I've got to keep producing and do well.

Success to me is writing a good story, gaining new and have returning readers, and having a good word of mouth. In the long run, that may lead to me being a bestselling author with a few awards or a movie made out of my books :-)

Loretta wrote: "S.J. wrote: "I am measuring my success in stages.
First, finished a book.
Second, published it.
Third, people bought it
Fourth, readers took the time to post reviews
Fifth, I enioyed the experience..."
Those stages sound really familiar! That's success for me!
Dean wrote: "Fair question. It depends I guess on what the author wants. If he wants best-seller status then it's a number sold. If he wants fans...then giving away 50k free books could be success. Movie rights..."

S.J. wrote: "I am measuring my success in stages.
First, finished a book.
Second, published it.
Third, people bought it
Fourth, readers took the time to post reviews
Fifth, I enioyed the experience and wrote an..."

Well said.

Sales are always welcome, but I got the job done, am happy with what I produced, and I have a small fan base who both keep asking for more. To me, that smells a little like success ;)

A friend of mine who does a lot of financial investing told me that he thought an annual 6% rate of return was reasonable for a "safe" investment. So I'm thinking that might make a reasonable benchmark for measuring basic financial success of my (upcoming)book. If it costs me a $1000 to bring it to market, then generating $60/year would be a reasonable return (based on that formula). (I don't include my personal time as part of the calculation since I'd write whether or not I was trying to sell it.)

Of course, 6%/year isn't going to make me independently wealthy in the near future. :)

Kevin wrote, If it costs me a $1000 to bring it to market, then generating $60/year would be a reasonable return (based on that formula). (I don't include my personal time as part of the calculation since I'd write whether or not I was trying to sell it.)

Of course, 6%/year isn't going to make me independently wealthy in the near future. :)

Nick wrote...

Kevin, the problem with your thinking, is that books have a sale life of 3-6 months by time they hit the shelves, virtual or print. Yes, e-books can sit on the e-shelf forever and garner a sale here and there, forever, but the majority of sales comes in the first six months.

As to your time, that is hobbyist thinking. Your time is worth something, even if you do not calculate your time in the equation. Think of all the missed opportunities you have missed, family time, socializing time, and professional time you have missed. The difference between a professional and a hobbyist is that the professional expects to get paid...

I'm a hobbyist writer, so my calculated "success" was designed with that in mind.

As to the shelf life of an ebook, I'm uncertain that it's that short. I put up a free short story almost a year ago and it's had its ups and downs, but has been pretty steady over the past year. And there are quite a few articles about the power of the backlist when it comes to writing (each book boosting the sales of past books). What is everyone's experience with that?

Regardless of how that works out, I just posted those numbers to let everyone know what I think would make for a financially successful book. If others have a different way of calculating financial success that includes hours spent writing, editing, etc. I'd love to read about that. At this point, I welcome any thoughts or suggestions.

Having given up on beecoming a best-selling author, I now measure success by how many viewers Google Analytics tells me have viewed my Book Preview Site and by how much time they spend looking at it.
I published my novel using Createspace over a year ago and was lucky to find Tim Hill (in Poland!) when trying to market the book on Facebook. Tim asked to use my book in drafting his marketing tool, Free Book Preview, which is connected to internet search engines and is able to let you see how many people view your site. If you want to see mine, go into Google and ask,"Should hospital security guards carry guns or night sticks?" or "What does Valium mean?" My picture will come up and my book PERSONAL BAGGAGE, A Tale of Marriage, Medicine, and Murder along with my answers to your questions because, somehow, Tim's Preview feeds your MS into the search engines and they pick up information you have treated in your book in answer to internet searches.
I think it is miraculous. I have paid nothing for the service so far, but soon Tim will begin billing me $10.00 a month to keep my site in operation. Here is the clickable URL, if you want to check it out.
http://bookpreview.info/personal-bagg...

.J. wrote: "I am measuring my success in stages.
First, finished a book.
Second, published it.
Third, people bought it
Fourth, readers took the time to post reviews
Fifth, I enioyed the experience and wrote an..."
Yeah... I like this answer.

I enjoyed the following article, which discusses success and indie publishing:

http://www.salon.com/2013/04/04/hugh_...

Thanks for the summary. Success is a moving target. I was surprised at how many subtle states there are of both loss and success. One sentence is a success, but the sentence next to it seems hollow now. Got the beat but not the best dialogue. Too obscure or merely restrained?
A writers obit, "She was tweaked to death."