You absolutely can not use Ingrams as representative of most sales numbers.

I thought this would probably be the case, because Eloisa James’ numbers seemed smaller than expected.

Bookscan, for example, is representative of about 25-40% of the total sales of a book. Bookscan is what’s used to compile the USAT list (I think). So to compare anything to EC or epub books Bookscan would be a better start. Bookscan, for example, includes Target but not Walmart, and I don’t think it includes grocery store/drug store distribution.

My bookscan numbers are much higher than my Ingram numbers.

I don’t know about EC, but they have to have at least a few authors who do much worse than a print-pubbed in NYC author, right?

Given how many books they release each year, and how many authors they have…Well, there have to be bombs somewhere.

I’m referring to authors like Robin Schone, Gayle Feyrer, etc.

Now I’ll bugger off.

Of course. There has always been a series of ‘hic cups’ – authors who push [as well as pull back] boundaries – in romance genre, but not enough to rock the industry hard. Nikita Black came out with Cajun Hot [or Cajun Heat] a few years ago and that is what slowly kicked off the whole ‘romantica’ movement, but it wasn’t until – off my head – three epublishers and one small press publisher to get it rolling.

All that said, it didn’t take – IMO – until MaryJanice Davidson’s success in print that major publishers finally made the association between her popularity and ebook publishing. Of course there were some former ebook authors who made successes in traditional publishing, but I can’t think of any who’s made a huge impact as MJD did. One editor was savvy enough to realise this, especially how she – I assumed – saw some moved to a certain publishing line and did well, that she’s been talent scouting for more by checking out ebook publishers’ backlists, especially EC’s. It was largely due to her successes that the whole thing finally rocked the traditional publishing house.

I’d lay it out more clearly, but I’m still groggy, so excuse those gaps and dodgy timeline. Someone more informed will come up with a better grasp on the history of ‘romantica’ [dating back to 1970s].

FWIW, anyway. *off to have coffee to bring her brain back to life*

EC is a RWA-recognised publisher, right? So wouldn’t it stand to reason that LLG – since she says she likes studying markets and such, therefore I assume she’d have access to info via RWA – would figure out that EC books do make profits? She has to have some credible info to back her up. Or at least for her to be confident enough to stand by her comments, even under fire. That makes me wonder.

OK, I’ve been thinking [please don't faint, Js]. Perhaps she was basing her comments on numbers of authors, not book copies sold? If that is the case, it’d make sense.

I mean, how many top-selling authors are there at EC? Comparing with top-selling romance authors at all major publishers. I’d say that for every EC bestselling author, there must be at least ten to twenty best-selling authors.

If we were to combine book sales of print authors from these major publishers and compare it against book sales of ebook/small-print publishers, I think it’s safe to say that major publishers make more money than the group of ebook/small-print publishers ever would

Of course, if we were to compare an individual author with another individual author, then yeah, Jaid Black owns LLG. So, I think those stats you have up are best used on author-by-author basis, rather than on publisher-by-publisher basis.

Like I said, I’m not good with maths and such, but there you go — that’s your peek to my muddled mind. :) I’m all for an explanation on how it really works, though. Fewer mentions of numbers would be appreciated, mind. :D

I’m not naming figures and I sure am not scanning my monthly royalty sheets for somebody to look at, unless it’s my agent, but here’s a good idea of just how steady that income is.

I’ve been writing full time now for two years. Two years ago, I had NO print books out. So it was just my ebook sales that I was living on. And I quit a full time job as a nurse so I could write. Granted, it was done in the heat of the moment because my boss ticked me off, but still… I quit a good steady job that paid well so I could write. And our quality of living didn’t go down in the least. Since then it has steadily gone up… we’ve bought a new house, I’m finally out of debt and I recently got a new car.

Sooooooo….still not naming figures, but implying that we can’t make a living from writing for EC, or saying that we don’t get paid squat just goes to show how very little that person knows.

Just…wow.

And Neilsen Bookscan says on their website their #’s are only based on about 5500 stores which doesn’t seem like a lot.

I read an article in PW a couple months back about the co that distributes in most grocery stores but I’ll be darned if I can remember the name *sigh*

The numbers for EC authors and other epubbed others like Samhain may also be even higher because it doesn’t account for the ebook sales at all. I was just so surprised by LLG’s anemic numbers for The Marriage Bed. If she is a superleader, I thought she would have print runs in the 60 – 80K but if she did she is not selling through her print run. If she is not a superleader, she wouldn’t be in Wal-mart, Costco etc and the Ingram numbers would be even more representative of her sales.

The bookstores involved get a form to fill out each week with the bestselling titles and how many copies they sold of each. This form has books that they think will hit the list (Nora Roberts, for instance), but they can add other titles that have been selling very well too.

I also wonder what type of service supermarkets use. My local IGA (independent grocery association) sells a huge number of Avon and Harlequin releases and little else. My local large chain supermarket, sells mostly Avon, Harlequin, bestsellers and bestseller backists for authors like Nora Roberts and Dan Brown.

How does the NYT and USA Today determine bestseller status?