The Dangerous Myth About Book Sales That’s Holding You Back

If your book sales have you questioning everything, the problem might not be your book—it might be the benchmark you’re using.

In this episode, we’re dismantling one of the biggest misconceptions in publishing: what “normal” book sales actually look like. Because once you understand how few copies most books sell—even from traditional publishers—it completely reframes the narrative around success, failure, and what’s realistically achievable.

We also take a hard look at the numbers authors throw around online. Big sales claims rarely come with context, and without understanding the costs behind them—ads, discounts, royalties, and margins—you can end up chasing results that look impressive but don’t actually translate into profit. Visibility is not the same as viability, and we break down why that distinction matters.

From there, we get into what’s really happening behind the scenes. Book sales data is often incomplete, especially when it comes to ebooks and indie platforms, which means many authors are comparing themselves against numbers that don’t tell the full story. That comparison spiral? It’s built on shaky data.

We also tackle one of the most persistent (and damaging) myths in publishing: the idea that a publisher will handle your marketing. In reality, most authors—traditional or indie—are responsible for building their own visibility. The authors who gain traction are the ones who treat their book like a business: they think long-term, build a reader funnel, invest in their backlist, and focus on creating consistent, compounding momentum.

This episode is a reset. Not a discouraging one—a clarifying one.

Because when you understand how this industry actually works, you stop chasing unrealistic outcomes and start building a strategy that has a real chance of working.

If you’ve ever felt behind, discouraged, or unsure what “good” even looks like anymore, this is the perspective shift you need.

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Transcript

Welcome And Big Expectations Reset

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome back to the Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast. This is Penny Sansever and Amy Cornell. And I am, we were in the green room and we were both like getting super excited about this show because I think that it's so this is groundbreaking, people. Share this with a friend. We are going to reset all your expectations in terms of book sales and several few, several big reality checks. I mean I can't talk about because I'm so excited about the show. Several really big reality checks in terms of um how many books that traditionally published authors actually sell. And the reason that I framed it that way is because so often authors, indie authors, and I am I am also an indie author, but so often I hear from indie authors, they say, well, I would really rather be with a traditionally published, like have my book traditionally published, because then I'll get all the things and I'll sell more books. Recent statistics from Jane Friedman's bottom line newsletter, which if you're not, it's a paid subscription. If you're not subscribing to

The Shocking Truth About Trad Sales

SPEAKER_00 1:20

it, I highly recommend you do. Tons of great information. 25% of all traditionally published books, now you're get ready for this mic draw, people. 25% of all traditionally published books sell fewer than a dozen copies. One dozen. Right. And yet and so if you have if you feel like you're not selling enough books, um, if you've only sold seven, you write you are right in line with where the numbers stand with the traditionally published books, right? That is so crazy. I mean, what when I shared this article with you originally out of Jane Friedman's newsletter, weren't you just like, oh my gosh?

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Yes. Yeah. And yeah. And then I had all these thoughts about publishers and strong feelings. And very strong feelings. And yeah, that's not that's not what this show is, but kind of expanded hand.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Well, and I think that, you know, I think if you called up some statistics um when we were in the green room, uh so feel free to like drop those in anytime because they were really good. And you know, Amy, I love Amy just like showed up with all these statistics in the show, which I thought was like amazing because I love I'm such a nerd. I love numbers.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Yes, it was very out of character. But with that, I mean, and and just to give you an idea here, I mean, I love these comparisons because to me, I realize it it's not quite so black and white, but I really do think when people go independent, a lot of people do that knowing they're going to have to put

Self-Publishing Numbers And The Myth

SPEAKER_01 3:05

in the work. You know what I mean? That's something that they accept. But so I love this. Uh, the average self-published book, I mean, I don't love it, but you know what I mean? I love it compared to the traditionally published when we're talking about myths and things like that. The average self-published book sells fewer than 250 copies total, with many selling under 100. But again, everybody listening, sorry, people are quickly just signing off.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

I know. We're done with this show, we're unsubscribing. Sorry, bye.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Right. But look at the difference though, that is significantly higher than the stat that you quoted for the traditionally published book. Yeah. So that's the part that I love. You know what I mean? Yeah, it it's it's a different, but yet the myth, you know, it continues.

unknown 3:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Somehow traditionally published is at a different level, and that's the secret to success.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

Right, exactly. And I think that it's it is, and this is something that I and part of the reason why we were so passionate about doing this show is because a lot of times, and I and I don't mean to I don't mean to jump all over Facebook, you know, um, author groups, but a lot of times I will, and I see this in Reddit strings too,

Viral Brag Posts And Hidden Costs

SPEAKER_00 4:20

where people will show up and they'll say, I sold 10,000 books today. I'm so excited. And then the rest of everybody else in the group just feels terrible, right? They're like, Well, I sold one in the last month and I'm a loser and I feel awful. And maybe that maybe they were actually telling the truth. I told Amy when we were talking about this in the green room, like, I think people should bring receipts. Like, if you're gonna show up, you know, and you're gonna boast. I mean, look, congratulations to you. Like, boast about your book sales all day long. I think if you're selling, you know, gat scads of books, that is amazing. That is fabulous. And everyone is everyone's gonna want to know your secret. But, you know, I mean, anybody can throw out any number. Like, I'm sorry, I'm not like suggesting that everybody's out there lying. But I mean, some people may not be really quite, they may have like a different relationship with the truth than you or I do, right? Because and and I've had authors that have come to me after like being in these Facebook, because you know it's keyboard courage, right? It's easy to post anything online and live our best life and all the things that we sure.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

They're also not saying they're spending over five grand on Amazon ads a month.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Well, right. And here's the here's the thing though, too, is so I did talk to somebody who was selling like a lot of books, right? And uh it's exactly what you said, and then I said, you know, and so I had a conversation with him, and I'm like, well, how did you do that? Well, he's spending something like I I want to say it was like seven thousand dollars a month on Facebook ads. Oh no, which right, right, and then also apparently Amy doesn't play poker, right? No, but I think it was actually somewhere in the in the range of 5,000 on Amazon ads or something. So here's so if you do the math on that, all right. So let's say you're you've okay, so you sold 10,000 books, that's amazing. Okay, but then you've also invested right 12,000 in your in ads, like ad spend and maybe more in some cases. Okay, so then you have to figure like the cost of your book on Amazon, and you get either 70 or 30 percent, depending on what your deal is, right? So are are you really making any money or are you just throwing it money? You know what I mean? So many factors, yeah. There's there's so many factors, and and again, don't want to get too far down the rabbit hole on that, but I think that we, you know, book sales should book sales are very questionable.

Why Sales Data Is Hard To Trust

SPEAKER_00 6:44

And and one of the other reasons for that is because Amazon's very cone of silence, right? So they don't release their book sales numbers, book sales numbers in particular for um ebooks, right? Which I find questionable at best, right? So there's a company called Book Scan, and Book Scan basically checks in with you know direct-to-consumer library sales, um uh not direct-to-consumer, excuse me, but you know, anything that like libraries, um bookstores, right? But they're not capturing everything. They're not and that's part of the problem, right? Self-published books are largely invisible because Amazon doesn't you know, doesn't release those numbers.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Right. And the small titles, Penny, you and I were chatting about that in the green room too. There are people that go with these kind of arms of bigger publishing names and assume that it's all equal when it's definitely not, you know.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So um I think so. Why don't you why don't you start us with the the big publisher myth? Because this is also it's also this sequence is also really interesting in terms of the you know, the book sale numbers and the myth around what we've been talking

Publishers Do Not Do Your Marketing

SPEAKER_00 8:20

about.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

And this is this is a huge one. I love this. This is one of the biggest myths in getting a publisher, they'll handle the marketing.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

Oh my gosh, I have strong feelings.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

I know, and we even have in our notes this is one of the most dangerous sentences in publishing. Yeah, because it is so far from the truth. You know, I it the reality is publishers really do concentrate their resources on a very small number of lead titles. And honestly, those lead titles, those are household names. Let's just call a spade a spade, right, Penny? Yes. Like these are not never heard of debut authors by any by any stretch. Right. So these are already people that you've heard of that are already super successful because publishers want to make money. They're going for the sure thing, you know? They're more than happy to help new authors get their books out there. That's what they are. They produce books, but really it's very much, oh, I wish I had an animal top of mind right now, but you know, like the kind of animals that give birth and then leave, like a turtle. Oh, right. Right, right, right. Yeah. It's like I left you and your egg here with all the other eggs that you're gonna be competing with. I'm out, I've got things to do. Like that's much what it's like to be with a big publisher. You know, you're there with a bunch of other little turtles. Hopefully you make it and a bird doesn't snatch you off, all the things, but you really are kind of left to your own devices. And that's why, you know, at the beginning, when I was talking about what I love about people that consciously decide to go independent, is that so many of them, not everybody, but so many realize what they're really taking on. And so they approach this whole business of being an author from a very different perspective versus having to play catch up after the fact once they realize, oh my gosh, I'm out here doing this alone, you know?

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I think that, you know, we've talked to enough authors who have come from or who are in the midst of being published by a traditional publisher and then realizing that publishers are not doing anything in marketing. Like you said, like the turtles left and the eggs are on their own. Now we've turned this whole show into an episode of National Geographic. But right, but like I feel then I the it's what it's where I always feel bad for the little turtles. I'm like, don't wave them. But unfortunately, publishers do. And because as Amy said, this is not, and this is not a criticism of publishers, it's just economics. You know, they have to they have to keep the lights on. So they have to invest all of their time in the you know, the top one percent, which in some cases is literally just one author that's carrying the entire company. And I've seen this happen before, right? Um and publishers are good at a lot, you know, there's a great many things that publishers are good at, right? What they're not good at is personalized marketing and being, you know, I mean, typically like if a if a traditional publisher, and if this is only because the PR company, the PR departments and publishing houses are like a lot of these staffers are working on 75 titles all at the same time, literally. So they're last emailing for reviews and things like that, and just kind of hoping for the best. So there's not a lot of personalized marketing. And at the end of the day, no matter how you publish, the marketing is on you. And I think the minute that authors really realize it, they're like, well, then I don't really know why I'm waiting for a traditional publisher to sign me. I think there's a cachet, certainly, that some authors want. And I respect that, you know. I mean, I think if that's really what you want, but I think the reality is if you're sitting here looking at your sales figures and you're thinking, I'm not selling books, what am I doing wrong? And there's a good, we have a lot of shows about that. So definitely go back and check that. But if you've checked all the boxes and you've done everything right, you're probably in the norm, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Right. Exactly. I think whether you're traditionally published or you go indie, you really have to approach, and I Penny and I were talking about

Think Like A Small Business

SPEAKER_01 12:38

this in the green room. I said, you know, we don't say it enough, but you really do have to approach becoming an author just like starting a small business. Yes. Yes, especially if you want to do this for a while. Again, we always want to say, you know, throw in the caveat that like you might only have one book that you want to put out there. This might be on your bucket list. You may just be doing it for family or something like that. Obviously, that's not what we're talking about here. But for those of you listening that really want to make money at this and keep doing this for a while, you really do have to think like a small business. And the reality is most small businesses take anywhere from two to three years to become profitable, please. If they were within striking distance, people listening would probably be slapping me right now. I'm so sorry. But and then a lot of businesses that really do make it don't start to feel established until after the seven-year mark. And that's not to make you feel discouraged. It really is to make you feel like I'm actually on track here and I need to push through, not I need to throw in the towel. That's what we really want authors to avoid because so many authors unfortunately start throwing in the towel way too early based on expectations that just don't align with reality.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I think, you know, I mean, look, I I know when I first started this business, I mean, it took a long time before I felt like I was, you know, I mean, Amy and I have worked together now for almost 15 years. It's actually gonna be 15 years in a couple of weeks. I can't believe it. Um, but it I and I still sometimes feel like I have to keep my foot on the gas all the time. As she knows. Yeah. But, you know, it it takes a long time before you really feel like you have your you have your stride. And this is the other thing, though, too, is that if you give yourself a better window, you know, a more real, I mean it's not say a better window, but a more realistic window for success, then the pressure of, oh my gosh, like I I my launch is like my book is 90 days old and I've sold five copies and four of them to people I know. And I you gotta take the pressure off. Because when you put the other thing though, too, is I think when you are so hyper-focused on book sales that you are missing in almost every case, you're missing bigger opportunities or things that you could be doing. You know, uh maybe corrections that you could be making or other opportunities you're marketing your book. A lot of times authors get so far down the rabbit hole of, you know, I got my retail, my I got my my um earnings statement and the flowers have died, there is no hope inside, and that's and they rock in a corner, and that's kind of where they land, and you're missing out on the fact that your book is only 90 days old or six months old, or right?

SPEAKER_01 15:25

I mean, or even two years old, but you just never did anything.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

And then all of a sudden that's the thing. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Yeah, but just because you start doing something, again, like you said, Penny, sales don't come on a set timeline, not for books.

How People Actually Decide To Buy

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Like I think we've done a show on this, but we definitely talk about it a lot. Book buying is very different than other products. Just because it exists doesn't mean people are gonna snag it. It's not an impulse item. Yes, you know, people really do because they're it's not the cost. Books are not expensive in, you know, for most people. It's not a money thing, it's a time thing, it's an investment thing in terms of their emotional investment and what they're looking to get out of it. I mean, gosh, we've talked about this before, but like obviously fiction titles, we get it. People are emotionally invested, they've got a thing, they know what they like, that's what you're dealing with. Nonfiction, people are looking to solve a problem or they're looking to learn something, or they're looking to be better at something. There's there's a lot of weight in that. And they they are very careful about the decision they make to buy another book because we've said this before too. The reality is if somebody reads nonfiction, they've probably got at minimum half a dozen titles on the same topic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they keep buying more because they don't have all the answers yet, or it's just something they're super passionate about. But you know what I mean? It's like these people have a high bar, they know what they want, they know what they're looking for, and they know what they've what they've already learned, right? So they're looking for something at the next level.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

Yeah, exactly. And this is something, this is a statistic that, Amy, that you found for

Why Series And Multiple Books Win

SPEAKER_00 16:56

the show. According to the Alliance of Independent Authors, which I love, it's a great group. If you're not a member, you should be. 75% of book sales come from series books, not standalones, which means that, and it does not necessarily have like you don't necessarily have to write in a series, but an author who writes multiple books, because the best way to sell your first book is with your second, and the best way to sell your second is with your third, and so on and so on. This doesn't mean because sometimes when I say this to authors, you're like, well, I'm just gonna wait till my second book to market my first. No, no. No, no. Does not, it's not what we're saying. What we're saying is is that incrementally as you release books, this does start to get easier and it's it starts to pick up, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Yes, exactly. And especially if you're doing those of you that are listening to the podcast are already doing all the right things to make the right decisions, avoid common mistakes, you know. So that's another thing too, in case it needs to be said. This doesn't mean hammer out 10 books in a year and then wait for sales to roll in. You know, you really, you still have to do all the right things and you have to keep your marketing going. But truly, your staying power and showing up in a way that tells consumers that you're in it and you're there for their experience and you're committed to whatever it is that you write, whether it's fiction or nonfiction, that carries a ton of weight, especially when somebody, when you know, the consumers don't know you yet. Showing a dedication to your genre or your topic is a really big deal.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Right. Exactly. And we have a whole bunch of shows on on, you know, if you feel like, you know, okay, well, now I don't feel so bad about my book sales, but I'd actually like to do something to increase them because you don't want to stay here, right? Obviously, at some point you want to you want to be part of that that you know, top 1% of the you know, the people who are selling lots and lots of books are like the guy on Facebook who's selling 10,000. I hope he is, but like I said, I want to see the receipts. We just we actually we just did a show on this. And I think it's gonna be either last week. I don't have the calendar in front of me, it's gonna be either last week's show or next week's show, where we talk about, and Amy actually designed this, designed that show. We talk about treating your book like a product and treating your readers like consumers as opposed to readers. Amy, do you want to give that a

Market To Consumers Before Readers

SPEAKER_00 19:19

quick reframe? Because I thought that show was if you haven't listened to that show, it's extraordinary. You should definitely go and and check it out.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Yes, we we want we chatted about the difference between when you're new, when you're trying to bring people in, you need to market to people like their consumers. You market to readers once they're already in your funnel, once they've already read your books, once they're already on your newsletter list. Those are your readers because they've already done it, they're there for you. But up until that point, you need to market to them like consumers. And those people are looking for something very different than your reader is looking for. Yeah, you know, produce your book for your for the reader, but your marketing has to be for the consumer. Yes. Both things have to happen. You know, you can't do one without the other. And I want to say, for what it's worth, these stats that we pulled together that were very scary and sad sounding, I do feel very strongly that these represent the majority, which is not doing enough. You know, these are not the people out there doing all the right things and putting in the work penny. I think I agree with that totally. Yeah, these are people that are producing books and hoping to be the exception to the rule, you know. So that's like all of y'all listening already are already getting past that. You know what I mean? You're doing the right things to not be one of the sad statistics that we mentioned at the beginning of the show.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

Yeah, exactly. And I think, you know, if you're willing to invest, if you're willing, if you if you've invested your time, and we've had some authors that have written us and said, you know, listen, I'm going back through all of your shows and you know, going back, you know, several years. And I, and I mean, that's an investment in you. That's an investment in your education. And I I we absolutely applaud it.

Stop Obsessing And Work The Plan

SPEAKER_00 21:01

I mean, it's why we do the show. But I think that if you need, if you if you need a little bit of a little bit of a boost, let me just say this stop focusing on your book sales. Stop and and stop focusing on that number. If you've checked all the boxes, right now, if your cover doesn't match the genre, all the things we have. We did a show on that. There's a show for that. But I think if you've checked all the boxes, give yourself a little bit of time, right? I didn't, you know, I didn't publish my first book or start this company and expect the first month just to be gangbusters and this is awesome, and now I can, you know, I'm looking to retire and like what like no, no, no. It took a long, it takes a long time. It takes a long time of strategic doing things that are strategic, um, staying hyper focused on what you're going to do to market your book, as opposed to, you know, let me just obsess over my. You know, my KDP or my Kindle Direct Publishing or my Publishing Sales Report or whatever, and be depressed and rock in a corner because that's not productive.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Yeah. No, I I fully agree 100%.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

And I would say too, look, if you have a backlist of books that you have done nothing with, my question to you would be, why? Right. So a lot of times, yes, we're hyper-focused on our latest book. I get it. I do the same thing. But what are you, you know, if you have other books that you've written, and I see this all the time where authors are like, yeah, I have all these books. I talked to somebody, I think it was, I don't know, two weeks ago. They have like 15 books that they've written. And I'm like, what are you doing with those books? Oh, I don't know. I just I don't know. Well, are you doing are you doing anything with them? And he's like, no, no, no. Like almost like they had forgotten that they actually had those books. Right. So you you gotta use all the tool tools in your toolkit for sure. You know, but just remember that book sale data is murky. Question the guy, or and I always say that's a guy could just question the the individual on Facebook, throwing up their sales numbers. Maybe they're doing great, and that's awesome, but you also only know part of the story. They could be spending, you know, $12,000 running ads and really not making a profit. But they're they're selling a lot of books, but it's not really, you know, evening out. Um, what did we miss? Did we miss anything?

SPEAKER_01 23:32

No, I hope no, not at all. I think we we started with some heavy stuff, but again, those of you listening are already on the right track. And if anything, this just reminds you that this is it's a process. And there are ways to enjoy it. I think educating yourself, you know, like Penny talks about all the time, educating yourself and feeling more in control about what this process entails and what the expectations are will make it much more enjoyable as well, you know, versus flying blind the whole time and only using data that, like we said, has tons of different factors involved in letting that guide you.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Yeah, exactly.

Final Takeaways And Stay In Touch

SPEAKER_00 24:11

And if you were holding out, waiting for a big publisher to notice you, it they I I'm a big believer in signs. So I'm just gonna say it. This is your sign to reconsider that idea and maybe look at being your own boss because even no matter how you publish, you're still gonna be your own boss. Thank you so much for tuning into the show. I want to remind you to text the word podcast to 888-402-8940. You can send us your ideas, show ideas, questions, what you liked, what you didn't like. Um, and we'd love to hear from you. And also, leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts. We love reviews, we check them all the time. We're kind of obsessive about that. So thank you so much for listening, and we'll see you next week. Bye bye.