The publishing figures for 2022 were rather depressing. In a country of 332 million people, only 28 books out of ~300,000 titles sold more than 500,000 copies. Eight were by one author, Colleen Hoover, and no book of history or politics sold more than 295,000 copies.
Here's the NPD BookScan chart of last year's top 25 books:
Past the top 100 books, the numbers are dire. The average book sells 200 copies. An average "bestseller" sells about 2,000 copies. Almost all significant book sales are to "communities," typically book clubs, authors' social media followers, or interest groups (like true crime).
Because publishers put out too many titles each year (~300,000 or up to 4 million if you count self-publishing), choice paralysis sends readers to familiar titles. Back catalog sales have expanded each year, shrinking sales of new titles.
Many have asked about self-published books. The numbers are harder to gauge, but according to Words Rated, the numbers aren't much better. A handful of authors dominate sales (the big earners have 100s of titles), while most books sell few to no copies. wordsrated.com
The best way to earn top dollar self-publishing is to put out dozens or hundreds of cut-and-paste or bait-and-switch titles of low-quality, public-domain text. Each might earn a handful of sales, but across all the titles, you can get hefty returns.
@Michael99241667 But, basically, if women watched porn instead of reading it, the publishing industry would cease to exist.
(Note: That is a joke. You don't need to lecture me about who watches porn.)
(Note: That is a joke. You don't need to lecture me about who watches porn.)
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