Who will replace Goodkind and Jordan?

[Werthead]

I should update that but there's not a whole lot to add. The biggest changes are that Terry Pratchett is now sitting at 70 million, and R.A. Salvatore's sales have been published since the list was released. He appears to have sold between 15 and 20 million books in the USA alone and possibly as much as 30 million worldwide. Alastair Reynolds can also be added to the bottom of the list with 1 million. George R.R. Martin's US sales of ASoIaF alone have also doubled from 2.2 to 4.5 million in less than two years, with significant rises in the rest of the world (though his total figure is hard to work out, so I'd keep it at the c. 10 million mark).

However, elsewhere figures are harder to find. Goodkind's sales don't appear to have gone up much (but then he's only published The Law of Nines since then which has apparently done quite poorly). Jordan must have gone up by at least a couple of million due to the release of two new books, but I haven't seen new figures. Peter F. Hamilton's sales and profile have increased markedly, but the latest figures I can find for him are from 2004.

 

[sdelu]

70 million? Holy cow.

Anyone have a rough figure on how much an author earns from each sale (I know it would probably be different for each contract, but still)? Just thinking out loud here... 70 million books at, eh, 8 bucks a book let's say. That's... a lot of money spent on books. 560 million dollars, and that's assuming they're all ~$8 MMPB sales. If the author got even 5% of that number (not implying they get their cut straight from sales, just saying if, after all was said and done, the figure wound up aroud 5%) he'd have about 28 million. I feel like that's too small a number, but that's a ridiculously rough estimate to start with so I'm okay with that.

But really, that's such a huge gap between Pratchett and the others. I never expected it to be so large.

I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but how does Rowling stack up against Pratchett? I'll go search back a few pages and see if that's been posted just in case.

 

[KatG]

Rowling beats Pratchett. And I believe Jordan still beats Pratchett. But Pratchett has done extremely well over thirty years with many books.

 

[Werthead]

Jordan does not beat Pratchett, at all. The gap was closing, but Jordan is still somewhere around 20 million behind. Thanks to the popular TV adaptations of Pratchett's novels and his recent huge boost in profile thanks to coverage of his illness, Pratchett's sales have shot up (he's also much better-known now in the USA than ten years ago, with his last few books hitting the NYT bestseller list). Pratchett is a household name in several countries, whilst Jordan isn't even one in the USA.

Rowling had sold 350 million by 2008. That is significantly higher now, as sales for the books still spike whenever a movie comes out. I wouldn't be surprised if it was now well north of 400 million. Or to put it in context, just one of the Harry Potter books has sold about as much as Pratchett's entire output, significantly more than Jordan's. That's how she's a billionaire, whilst Pratchett is merely a multi-multi-multi millionaire.

 

[3rdI]

Jordan does not beat Pratchett, at all. The gap was closing, but Jordan is still somewhere around 20 million behind. Thanks to the popular TV adaptations of Pratchett's novels and his recent huge boost in profile thanks to coverage of his illness, Pratchett's sales have shot up (he's also much better-known now in the USA than ten years ago, with his last few books hitting the NYT bestseller list). Pratchett is a household name in several countries, whilst Jordan isn't even one in the USA.

Rowling had sold 350 million by 2008. That is significantly higher now, as sales for the books still spike whenever a movie comes out. I wouldn't be surprised if it was now well north of 400 million. Or to put it in context, just one of the Harry Potter books has sold about as much as Pratchett's entire output, significantly more than Jordan's. That's how she's a billionaire, whilst Pratchett is merely a multi-multi-multi millionaire.

Wert has there been any release as to how many copies of The Wise Man's Fear have been sold so far?

 

[nquixote]

Wert has there been any release as to how many copies of The Wise Man's Fear have been sold so far?

Apparently enough for the entire free world to decide that the book is an unprecedented literary achievement.

Snark snark.

 

[3rdI]

enough to decide that the book is an unprecedented literary achievement.

Well said

 

[KatG]

Rowling beats Pratchett. And I believe Jordan still beats Pratchett. But Pratchett has done extremely well over thirty years with many books.

I thought Jordan had 80 million, but I might be confusing him with another author on the lists.

Wert has there been any release as to how many copies of The Wise Man's Fear have been sold so far?

The book's only been out for two weeks 3rdI. Booksellers get print books and then can return them for a full refund a good bit later, so they won't have good figures for about six months. And when they do, they won't tell the media what they are. They'll probably just tell you copies shipped, which is before returns. But if it's #1 on the NYTimes list, and on the fourth printing, then he's sold at least probably over 50,000 copies in the States so far and possibly much more than that.

 

[3rdI]

The book's only been out for two weeks 3rdI. Booksellers get print books and then can return them for a full refund a good bit later, so they won't have good figures for about six months. And when they do, they won't tell the media what they are. They'll probably just tell you copies shipped, which is before returns. But if it's #1 on the NYTimes list, and on the fourth printing, then he's sold at least probably over 50,000 copies in the States so far and possibly much more than that.

Only two weeks really?

Yes I know when it was released but as I do not work in publishing I wasn't entirely sure how quickly sales totals are released to the public which is why I asked Wert.

 

[KatG]

You'll have a decent number available on the Net in a year. That is, unless they just combine the numbers for Wise Man with Wind for total sales, which they probably will.

 

[Werthead]

I don't work in publishing, I just keep an eye on it

And Kat's right, it's way too soon to tell what exactly the figures are. If I had a copy of The Sunday Times I could tell you how many hardcovers have been sold in Britain in the last 2 weeks, but I don't (and their website is subscription only).