A few weeks ago, I found myself in a conversation that honestly caught me off guard.
An author had reached out to me asking for help. They wanted to devise a bestseller launch strategy. At first, I assumed that this author would be new in their journey, but that wasn’t the case at all.
They had already sold 170,000+ books.
My jaw hit the floor.
When this author told me the number of units that they had sold, I remember pausing for a second. I was confused. When you hear of that kind of sales volume, most people would probably assume that this author would have hit the New York Times, USA Today, or some other National Bestseller list.
But they hadn’t.
Not once.
As we talked further, my confusion only deepened. This author’s most recent launch had sold 10,000 copies. For most authors, that number is enormous. To sell 10,000 books is an incredible launch!
But publishing is rarely that simple.
The more we talked, I began to realize that although this author had done many things right, there was a core piece of strategy missing. It soon became obvious why they kept missing the list.
Not all book launches are created equal. You must know how the game is played.
Four Launches at Once
One of the most glaring things that I learned was that every time this author released a new book, they actually released every version of the book simultaneously.
Hardcover. Paperback. Ebook. Audiobook.
All four.
Now, to most people, that probably sounds smart. Why not make the book available in every format?
But bestseller lists don’t work that way. To the National Bestseller lists, each type of book has its own separate listing–or, in industry terms, an ISBN. An ISBN is the “International Standards Book Number”, and it allows bookstores and libraries to keep track of their inventories. Therefore, because a paperback version has a different ISBN than a hardcover version, they are, quite literally, different books.
This presents a huge problem for the unaware author.
Imagine a book launch that sells 10,000 units. Pretty exciting, right? But now, imagine that those 10,000 books are diluted among the following categories:
- 2,500 hardcovers
- 2,500 paperbacks
- 2,500 ebooks
- 2,500 audiobooks
In theory, you believe that you just sold 10,000 books.
In reality, you actually sold 2,500 books–four different times.
Now–just to add some salt to this literary wound–imagine that your dream bestseller list requires 9,000 books to achieve. Or, maybe it requires just 7,000 books. Or, maybe just 5,000!
Did you hit the bestseller list? Has your life been changed?
No.
You missed the bestseller list, four different times.
Congratulations. Due to a poor understanding of book launch mechanics, your sales were diluted and spread across formats.
The “Discounted Book” Problem
As this author and I continued talking, another detail eventually came to the surface.
In reality, most of this author’s 170,000+ sales came through ebooks, many of which were sold at just $0.99.
To be clear, there’s nothing morally wrong with that kind of sale. Plenty of authors have built successful careers selling low-cost, digital ebooks. Readers love deals. They’re crushing those Kindles! But it does create an issue with bestseller list reporting.
That 99-cent ebook is valued much differently than a hardcover at Barnes & Noble.
But that makes sense, doesn’t it?
If you sell 10,000 ebooks for less than a dollar, that is significantly easier than selling 10,000 printed books.
If, on the other hand, Barnes & Noble sells your paperback for $20 all-in, then your 10,000 paperbacks would generate $200,000 in revenue. That’s serious money!
$200,000 vs. $10,000.
Which book launch is more impressive?
And that was the disconnect with this befuddled author. While they had “sold” 170,000+ books, the vast majority of those sales were unrecognizable–or, at least severely discredited–in the eyes of the National Bestseller lists. That was why they continued to miss.
What Most Authors Never Realize
Most authors assume that bestseller lists are simple. Units in, units out. Did I move enough units to become a bestseller?
If only it were that simple!
There are a million different ways you can miss the list, including:
- Having too many active ISBN’s
- Discounting your price too heavily
- Miscategorizing your book (and having to compete with Atomic Habits!)
- And many more
Sometimes, the difference between hitting the bestseller list or not is not your writing skills or sweat and hustle. In reality, bestseller lists are hit when you understand the mechanics.
If you understand the rules, you can win the game.
It’s time to start reading the rulebook.
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P.S. If you are looking for additional resources on publishing and book launches, take a look at this free 60-minute training called “Publish Like a Pro”:
https://missiondrivenpress.com/publish-bw/
