What does a successful crime book look like on Lulu.com?

[Richard Krauss]

It's impossible to tell how many times a book has sold on Lulu.com. The top 100 seem to be primarily instructional manuals and the like. The sales ranking is listed for each offering, but how can you tell if the ranking is good or not?

Are we talking 5,000, 500, or 5 copies?

[John Dishon]

All I could glean from the website was that the ranking is based on monetary sales, not the number of books sold. So you could theoretically buy a bunch of your own books and hit the bestseller list. It seems there isn't a way to tell how many books have been sold.

[Richard Krauss]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

I took a moment to review the all time 100 best sellers and the clear majority are how-to and heath-related titles. There are only one or two books of fiction. As tempting as POD looks, I'm doubtful any fiction writers are breaking out using this venue.

[I. J. Parker]

Oh, my! You've just provided all sorts of cheer for a poor fiction author. Thanks.

[Hazel Edwards]

As a published author of fiction and non fiction with major print publishers, I agree with Anita Bell, that a 'good' fiction work can have a longer life than a non fiction title, but it's easier to publicise a non fiction topic in terms of media coverage on radio and TV. The real factor in sales is the distribution channel, and how well the publisher and author work together to get the book into mainstream availability, whether the publisher is mainstream or niche.