Monday, June 28, 2021

An Aniversary and Some Good News.

 

It's been exactly 5 years since the hardcover edition of Age of Myth came out. One always hopes that a backlist title will continue to sell well after the initial release, but only a very small % of books do. When sales remain strong over an extended period of time it is referred as "long-legged." In many ways, this type of title is even better than one that hits a major bestseller list (such as the New York Times or USA Today).  Why? Because bestseller status just means a book has had at least one really good week (or month in the case of audiobooks) worth of sales.  In most cases, a book that sells for many years will out-perform those "one and done" bestselling titles.  

Another aspect of book sales has to do with when the hardcover goes out of print. After the publisher's warehouses go bare they have a choice to make: Do they print up more, or do they put that version out of print? In the case of Age of Swords, the first print run sold out at a good clip, but the second print run wasn't flying off the shelves. Storing books in the warehouse is expensive, so not only did they put that title out of print, they also decided to "remainder'" the copies they had.  This usually means the books are sold for a few pennies a pound and the author receives no money on copies sold that way.  As an author, you DO NOT want your books to be remaindered.  In our case, there was a silver lining to the Age of Swords hardcover going out of print . . . all because Robin is a savvy business person.  She added to the contract the condition that before a book is remaindered, we get the chance to buy the excess stock.  Which we did.  I can't remember the exact number of books we purchased, but I think it was around 4,000 or so.  Since receiving them, we have been selling them directly to readers (which gives us a much higher % of the money paid because there is no publisher or retailer involved -- and we bought the books at a much higher discount than the standard 50%).  I'm pretty sure we have sold about 2/3 of them and have around 1,000 left.  

Why did I mention that? Well, an email arrived today from Penguin Random House announcing that Age of Myth's hardcover has gone into its 7th printing!  That means there are more than 23,000 copies of that version "in print!" So we have two things to celebrate today.  For most books, the hardcovers "run their course" in the span of 9 months to a year, but as far as Age of Myth is concerned, its hardcover is still going strong a full 5 years from its release.

According to the numbers we get from the author's portal it looks like this book has sold about 389,000 copies across hardcovers, paperbacks, audiobooks, and ebooks.  That's amazing!  Robin and I thank all the people who picked up a copy of this book. Here's hoping you are one of them. 

Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Nolyn Audiobook Sale - 3 days and counting

 


It's about 6 weeks until the retail release of Nolyn, which is great timing because there is a sitewide sale going on at Audible.com.  They priced the book at 50% off which puts it about 17% lower than the price of a credit. 



I'm so excited about this release. Starting a new series doesn't happen often around the Sullivan household (2008, 2013, 2016, 2021) and this is the first time in thirteen years that we own and control the release - which is VERY exciting.  If you aren't yet familiar with this release. Here is some information about the book:

After more than five hundred years of exile, the heir to the empyre is wary about his sudden reassignment to active duty on the Goblin War’s front lines. His assignment to rescue an outpost leads to a dead-end canyon deep inside enemy territory, and his suspicion turns to dread when he discovers the stronghold does not exist. But whoever went to the trouble of planning his death to look like a casualty of war did not know he would be assigned to the Seventh Sikaria Auxiliary Squadron. In the depths of an unforgiving jungle, a legend is about to be born, and the world of Elan will never be the same.

From Michael J. Sullivan, the New York Times, USA Today, and Washington Post bestselling author, a new adventure begins with the first book in The Rise and Fall trilogy. Although this series is set in the same world as the Riyria novels and the Legends of the First Empire books, it is a standalone tale. As such, no prior knowledge of the other works is required to enjoy this tale to its fullest.

NOTE: The sale ends in about 3 days and 9 hours - so get your pre-order in by then!