How To Make Money As An Author - Sell A Lot Of Books

I have talked about this in the past, but a post showed up in my social media feed this last week that encouraged me to put this out there for all of you authors. Let me first say, before I go any further, I am, in no way going to say that libraries are bad or used book stores are bad in this post. I promise, I will redeem myself in the end here.

I have often grumbled when I hear readers say, "I totally loved this book and passed it on to my family. Everyone in the family has loved it and it has now been passed on to another family." On the surface, that sounds great! People love your book! Woo Hoo!!!! That is what we all want to hear. 

BUT...

Remember that publishers do not look for the number of people who say they love your book. Like any product being sold to the general public, the business departments look to sales numbers. Is the product selling a lot. If not, then the product is often dropped from the company. Books are no different. If your book is read by 15 people in your family (or friends circle), but only one person bought that book, there is only 1 sale that is getting recorded. 14 sales were lost in the accounting records. 

Now, here is where the social media post comes into play:

Take a look at those numbers. 

Here is what I want you to understand. 

Publishing houses will often send out a box of books, on a regular basic, to libraries that are part of their system. This box contains one copy of each of the books. That records as 1 sale. Every time someone in the library checks out that book, you have to think of this as 1 less sale. 

Here is where it hurts the author. If an author gets advance for his or her book, it means that they have to "sell through" their advance before they start seeing royalties. This means that they have to sell enough books to essentially pay back that advance. Once that happens, they now start to make royalties on every book that is sold over that advance. In other words, the only way an author makes money is by selling books. In the case of the library sales, the author made 1 sale to count toward his or her advance and that is it. 

The same goes for used book stores. If you love bookstores, like I do, and you love to read, like I do, you know how addicting a used bookstore can be. Shelves upon shelves of inexpensive books. Ahh, but wait, here is the kicker. You know that bag of books you returned that day when you went in on your latest book buying binge at your local bookstore? You got credit for those books so you can put that credit toward buying more books. The bookseller then reprices the book, puts it on a shelf and waits for someone else to buy it.

But who gets the money? Does it go to the author?

If it is a used book, the only person who saw that income and had it recorded as a sale was the bookseller. That author did not see a penny of it. That money only made it back to the author (in some form or another) with that first sale. Everything after that is considered a lost sale.

For authors, it is important to encourage your readers to "Buy" your books. I would even encourage you to have them skip those "discount" book stores you can find online because, even if it is considered a sale, it is less money getting back to the author.

Does this make sense?

NOW FOR THE MOMENT SCOTT TALKS HIMSELF OUT OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ANGRY AT HIM WITH THIS POST.

I am a big proponent of any way we can get people to read. I want people to read and to read a lot, regardless of their income or any other demographic out there. Libraries get books into the hands of people who may not be able to afford books. Libraries get books into the hands of kids who just want to read a lot. I remember my mother walking us to the local library in Reseda, California when I was young so I could bring home a bag of books I would read that week. I want others to do the same thing. The same goes for used bookstores.

Both libraries and used bookstores also get people hooked on new authors, and the hope is the readers go out there to buy more books from that person later.

Finally, used bookstores are great because you are supporting your local economy. They also sell new books so help them (and the authors) out at the same time. When I need a new book, I always call my favorite local used bookstore and have the owner get me the book new. That way, everyone wins.