NYT Bestseller discloses personal sales and profit information

[John Dishon]

http://www.genreality.net/more-on-the-reality-of-a-times-bestseller

[I. J. Parker]

She did say that she didn't have the net figures, Pepper. Keep in mind, that an author lives on one book (generally per year), while the publisher has many, many books.

[Pepper Smith]

The author is a she. And she apparently writes pretty fast.

There was a recent post on Nathan Bransford's blog where he looked at the number she provided, and pointed out that she'd made no allowances in her calculations for the publisher's profits for the publisher's expenses. He came up with numbers that were still respectable, but far lower.

[I. J. Parker]

B.R., I take it that the others weren't bestsellers. Also, sales tend to plummet after the first few months. If the stores return books, sales may halt completely. Still, there was the advance of 50,000. So you may be right. What rankings???

[B.R.Stateham]

What impressed me about the article was the author's statement they cleared about $25,000 for that book. (I assume it is for that one book and not for the series) But not to be forgotten, the author had two other books out there on the market. Both slotted at higher ranking than the one where he had the royalty statement. So (assuming, of course) three times 25,000. . . this cat is earning a nice living.

Or to look at it another way--one book a year ain't gonna cut it. You'd better learn how to write fast. . . and write excellently. . . if you really want to succeed.

[I. J. Parker]

Speaking of comparative gross incomes, those figures seem to be "grossly" favoring the publisher (who's also my publisher).
I will say, after reading this (and my thanks to the author), that I shall never again grumble about my agent holding on to as many rights as possible. I have a good agent, bless her.

[John McFetridge]

We had a discussion about this here.