Book sales in Ireland – what constitutes a success?

AJ,I don’t know about Ireland or anywhere else in the world as to what quantifies success in terms of sales: Maybe ONE? I’d be delighted (haven’t written it yet).

The, to me, far more interesting point you raise is what constitutes ‘success’ and the assertion that bloggers hope for publication. Do they? Without wishing to go into semantics, how much more public can you go than when writing a blog?

U

Hi AJ,

I’ve worked a little bit in this industry so I’ll share my meagre sum of knowledge. Firstly, any print run of a book from a regular publishing house (i.e. not a vanity publishing house where they charge you for the book) is a success – mainly because the commissioning editor thought it was good enough to invest the company’s cash. So it had to have some appeal.

Of course, sales success is a different story. Print runs of 500 books are common, and if they all sell out, that’s a success. The print run is small, but it might appeal to a niche market e.g. military history or local history. So worth the effort.

For a mainstream publication for the mass market, 3000 is a healthy print run and if it sells out it’s profitable for the publisher.

By the way, most novels from newly published authors do 3000 or less in print run, so it’s not to be sneezed at. The main thing is to get the author’s name out there and build a following. Also, the cover price of the book is important. A trade paperback retailing for €12 would need to sell 3000 copies I’d imagine, but a hardback art book might retail for up to €1000 – I have six of such a book on a shelf behind me – the print run on that will be very low correspondingly. So the concept of success depends, like most things, on the market involved. However, your guess at 4000 and higher for public interest, was quite accurate in my humble opinion!