I managed to download the latest sales figures from Lulu.com, and they show that my wargame books continue to sell reasonably well.
The last time I looked at the sales figures, they were:
The latest sales figures look like this:
My sales have now broken the 7,000 barrier, and look well on their way to achieving 7,500 by the end of 2020.
My only slight disappointment is the fact that THE PORTABLE COLONIAL WARGAME has not sold as well as I had hoped, especially as the simple campaign system and terrain generator seem to have 'hit the spot' with a lot of wargamers who have used them.
These figures have encouraged me to resume work on the next book in the PORTABLE WARGAME series, and it will be featuring on my next short-term set of aims.
Hi BOB,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on such splendid figures- 7,000 is a huge amount of sales. Good to see the Madasahatta Campaign doing well too. Regards. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteCheers! At least I can now justifiably tell people that I am a writer and retired teacher rather than a retired teacher who writes a bit!
I have a feeling that now the new map is available, Madasahatta is going to be used for Colonial wargaming by a few people.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
ReplyDeleteI was wondering, all these book sales, do they earn you "real" money, or is it rather "pocket money".
I have no idea about the business model of these print-on-demand services. Are we talking order of magnitude about 1 euro per book, 5 euro per book, 10 euro per book, ... ?
Phil Dutre,
DeleteFrom my point of view, it is very much a pocket money exercise, although the income - which is taxed - is a useful adjunct to my pension.
I get paid by Lulu for each book that is sold directly by them or by online retailers such as Amazon. The amount I get paid depends upon the price and format, but averages out at about 1 Euro per book before tax.
If I had set the prices higher, I would have made more money per sale, but would not have expected to sell so many. I decided that I didn’t want my books to be too expensive for wargamers to afford, as I wanted to spread my ideas across the hobby, hence the availability of my books in different formats to meet the different financial resources of Individual wargamers.
I hope that this answers your question.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob -
ReplyDeleteLike Phil, I never quite knew how much congratulations were in order based on sales. But it does sound like a tidy little supplement to the household income! I note that the Colonial Portable Wargame is selling much higher as a printed book than as an e-book. That seems to be the trend for your latest PW titles.
Not sure what that means, but it might mean something!
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteI understand that to be a ‘bestseller‘ you have to sell five thousand copies of a book in a month ... so I don’t qualify for that accolade! A book is generally regarded as ‘successful’ if it sells 2,500 copies during its lifetime ... so THE PORTABLE WARGAME book has reached that goal.
I think the PCW sells better in printed than electronic format because it is being bought by people who have already bought one or more of the other books in the series. Hopefully this will be true of any future books.
All the best,
Bob
I tend to purchase the hardcopy of books I plan to reference later. Books I'm "just" reading through I like in Kindle format or PDF, but there are exceptions.
DeletePatrick W,
DeleteI follow a very similar policy. I cannot remember the last time I bought a fiction book that wasn’t in Kindle format.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob
ReplyDeleteWell done!
7000 plus sounds very respectable to me. I do not know anything about the mechanics or profitability of writing and selling books. But it must give you a lot of satisfaction to know that more that many people were prepared to pay for your efforts.
I wonder how many books some of "the greats" of wargaming, like Don Featherstone, actually sold. In those far off days I would think there was a smaller market for such specialist books. On the other hand they were stocked by libraries, and that must have increased the numbers.
We have a shared interest in writing blogs for enjoyment, but being a published author has a really nice sound to it.
Again - well done
Paul
Paul,
DeleteCheers! I understand that publishers of wargame books tend to go for print runs of between five hundred and a thousand when a new book is published, so my better selling titles are doing quite well.
I’m not sure how well Donald Featherstone’s books sold, but I suspect that they were a ‘slow burn’. I know that over the years they went through several reprints, but I don’t think that he ever revised them. As for libraries ... well, they could always be relied on to buy some copies of most books that were published, but nowadays that is no longer true.
I must admit that telling people I’ve met on cruises that I am a writer tends to be a bit of a conversation stopper. I’ve had a couple of very negative reactions, but most people ask how I started, and how I went about actually writing and publishing a book. (One women very obviously didn’t believe me, and actually checked my name on Google then and there ... and looked very shamefaced when she found my books on sale on Amazon!)
I learned my ‘trade’ as a writer by writing for magazines and for my blog. I’ve certainly improved as I’ve gone along, and I hope that I will continue to do so.
All the best,
Bob
I wonder if there's a relationship between sales of the basic PWG book and the expansions? Do people buy the base rules and then their period of interest? I'll add it up after my wife and I get back from our walk.
ReplyDeleteMr, Pavone,
DeleteI suspect that you are right. Certainly the feedback I’ve had has been that some purchasers buy the electronic version of the original book, and then buy a printed copy, followed by purchasing one or more of the follow-on books.
All the best,
Bob
A simple analysis shows that the sales of your expansion books almost matches the sales of the main PWG book. Fun!
DeleteMr. Pavone,
DeleteA quick look at the figures confirms what you have stated. On reflection, that makes a lot of sense, and might affect the sales of future books.
Something for me to think about.
All the best,
Bob