ebook sales for 2013, part one
There’s been a lot of doom-and-gloom jeremiads from prominent agents and traditionally published writers about self-publishing ebooks recently, mostly centered around how a “tsunami of crap” (or, more crudely, as a “shit volcano”*) shall destroy readers’ appetites for ebooks. This is, to put it bluntly, utter nonsense, and based upon a flawed understanding of how the Internet works. (My opinion on why is here.) YouTube and eBay both, for instance, are awash in “crap”, yet people seem to be launching careers off both sites on a regular basis. The assumption is that without the help of “gatekeepers” to curate appropriate books for the public, readers shall lose themselves in a sea of poorly written books, grow disgusted, and abandon reading for watching “Dancing With The Stars” or whatever.**
The irrationality of this assumption is quite visible in hindsight. It turns out that if you offer people near-infinite choice, they will still select the things they like! Subway offers a gazillion different possible sandwich combinations, and I pretty much order the same thing every time I eat there.
However, the reader need not take my word for it. Hugh Howey (author of WOOL and SAND) released a massive report this week that confirmed what many people have suspected – self-published ebooks have basically taken over the market, and traditional publishing has become increasingly vestigial. (UPDATE: There’s another good analysis of the topic here.)
So, in the spirit of sharing information to help other writers make informed decisions, here are my ebook sales from 2013.
I sold 75,896 copies of my books, and gave away 125,091 free copies. Thank you, all! I am very grateful, and that is an amazing number.
Individual details are below. Note that I skipped some of the weaker-selling short stories below, though I did include them in the final total:
THE DEMONSOULED SERIES
Demonsouled (free book): 30, 983
Soul of Tyrants: 3,298
Soul of Serpents: 2,875
Soul of Dragons: 2,696
Soul of Sorcery: 2,726
Soul of Skulls: 3,447
Soul of Swords: 2,381
Demonsouled Omnibus One: 73
DEMONSOULED SHORT STORIES
The Wandering Knight: 513
The Tournament Knight: 336
The Dragon’s Shadow: 433
THE GHOSTS SERIES
Child of the Ghosts (free book): 81,258
Ghost in the Flames: 5,312
Ghost in the Blood: 4,381
Ghost in the Storm: 3,932
Ghost in the Stone: 3,916
Ghost in the Forge: 4,207
Ghost in the Ashes: 2,811
Ghost in the Mask: 2,100
Ghost in the Surge: 7
The Ghosts Omnibus One: 66
THE GHOSTS SHORT STORIES
Ghost Dagger: 1,330
Ghost Aria: 885
Ghost Claws: 336
Ghost Omens: 424
Ghost Thorns: 129
The Fall of Kyrace: 217
THE FROSTBORN SERIES:
Frostborn: The First Quest: 629
Frostborn: The Gray Knight: 1,765
Frostborn: The Eightfold Knife: 629
THE THIRD SOUL SERIES
The Testing (free book): 4,605
The Assassins: 1,103
The Blood Shaman: 940
The High Demon: 806
The Burning Child: 884
The Outlaw Adept: 656
The Black Paladin: 609
The Tomb of Baligant: 554
The Third Soul Omnibus One: 361
The Third Soul Omnibus Two: 321
THE TOWER OF ENDLESS WORLDS SERIES
The Tower of Endless Worlds (free book): 6,700
A Knight of the Sacred Blade: 688
A Wizard of the White Council: 626
The Destroyer of Worlds: 649
NONFICTION
The Ubuntu Beginner’s Guide: 2,855
The Windows Command Line Beginner’s Guide: 5,397
The Linux Command Line Beginner’s Guide: 4,431
The Ubuntu Desktop Beginner’s Guide: 547
The Linux Mint Beginner’s Guide: 746
The Windows 8 Beginner’s Guide: 205
-JM
*I have always found it wise to ignore statements from a writer who is incapable of constructing an argument without profanity.
**Which, to be fair, is a surprisingly entertaining show.
