2023-07-06
Book sales Entreprenerd 2Q23
I used to publish monthly updates of the sales of my book Entreprenerd: Building a Multi-Million-Dollar Business with Open Source Software. I stopped doing so last fall. My last report dates from January 1, 2023. As far as I knew then, I had sold 694 copies in total since its release in May 2021. In the second half of 2022, sales dropped to only 6.17 books a month on average, and it didn't make sense anymore to spend time on compiling detailed reports. Note that I hadn't received all the sales numbers for 2022 on the first day of the new year. Afterward, I learned that I had sold 13 copies more than I thought.
We're half a year later now, and maybe it's time to publish an update on the sales of the book. Much to my surprise, sales were better in 1H23 than in 2H22: 70 copies versus 50 (37 + the 13 that were reported after January 1st). Let's take a look at the set of 6 charts I've created to show how the book has performed between May 14, 2021, and June 30, 2023:
So far, I've sold 777 copies of the book. It comes in three versions: hardcover, paperback and eBook.
- I've sold almost as many eBooks as paperbacks: 326 versus 328. Those numbers are somewhat skewed: 200 of those paperbacks were sold in the context of talks at events where the event organizer bought copies to distribute among the attendees. I also sold 123 copies of the hardcover version.
- When we look at the personal sales, we see that I personally sold 15 copies of the paperback on top of the 200 I already mentioned. I also sold 27 hardcover copies personally.
- Looking at the eBook version, we see that Amazon leads the dance (177 copies), followed by Leanpub (99 copies). I combined the other channels because none of them stood out (50 copies).
It's hard to calculate the exact revenue because I receive royalties in all kinds of currencies. To make it easy for myself, I use a currency value table that is fixed in time. I know this isn't correct, but it's the best I can do. Using that inaccurate method, I've made €4,958.53 in royalties so far.
- If we look at the royalty per copy, we can see that selling the hardcover version results in the highest royalty, followed by the paperback, and finally the eBook version. It's important to know that I had to increase the price of the hardcover book over time because the price of paper increased significantly. Amazon, with its Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform, was the last of the Print-on-Demand (POD) providers to increase its prices for publications in print. This increase, initiated on June 20 of this year, isn't visible in my charts yet.
- Today, the price of the eBook and the paperback are slightly higher than the introduction price. People can get the best deal by buying the eBook on Leanpub. Leanpub offers a higher royalty percentage, which allowed me to make it less expensive on that platform. To promote the book, Leanpub promoted the book in its newsletters at an even lower price. Most of the eBook sales were generated by those early promotion campaigns. Today, I earn more than €5.72 on each sale on Leanpub.
- Buying the eBook on Amazon is more expensive than buying it on Leanpub, but that doesn't seem to matter for most readers. If we add up eBook and paperback sales on Amazon, we see that it's the most popular platform with 290 on the total of 777 sales (37.32%).
Let's take a closer look at Amazon, as it provides a great dashboard to monitor your sales.
We see two peaks when we look at the number of copies sold over time. The first peak appears immediately after the release of the book; the second peak coincides with the publication of an interview on the code code ship blog. That blog post was featured on Reddit and generated quite some sales before it was removed by Reddit's automated SPAM filters.
Amazon also provides information about the distribution of those 290 sales over the different market places.
The US leads in eBook sales, Germany leads in paperback sales. The same is true for the revenue in each region.
Observe the difference in revenue estimated by Amazon versus my own guesstimate.
- According to my own calculations, I made a total of €1,648.18 (€888.86 eBook + €759.32 paperback) in royalties with KDP.
- According to Amazon's estimate, I made €1,734.82.
The difference of €86.64 is easy to explain. I use the same fixed currency values for the American dollar, British Pound, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Polish Zloty, Indian Rupee, Japanese Yen, and Brazilian dollar since 2021. Amazon's estimate takes into account the currency values at the end of each month. The royalties that are actually paid use the currency values at the moment of payment. That makes it complicated, doesn't it?
Many people tell me those numbers are great; they also congratulate me on the great reviews I'm getting (last checked today, on July 6, 2023).
| Site | Rating | # Votes |
|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 5.00 stars | 1 vote |
| Goodreads | 4.41 stars | 22 votes |
| Amazon | 4.6 stars | 19 votes |
| Rakuten Kobo | 4.33 stars | 3 votes |
| Google Books | 5.00 stars | 1 vote |
People who know me, know that I'm good at finding reasons to complain. It's no secret that I expected to sell 3,000 copies. When compared to that expectation, selling only 777 copies is a flop.
I also did a great effort writing a pitch for an eight episode limited series based on the book. I even wrote a first draft of a scenario (8 times 60 pages). I sent this pitch to several production companies, but they all turned down the idea (or didn't bother to answer my email).
- One answered that it's hard to adapt the book to a television series. I suspect that's a bogus reason, as that's not what my readers tell me. Of course: you have to take the time to read the book before you make such a remark.
- Another production company answered that the series should start with a conflict to make it interesting. Examples were given: imagine that the protagonists risk getting arrested and put in jail when returning from the US. Or, think of Breaking Bad with Walter White in his underwear, in the desert, holding a gun. In other words: a spectacular opening scene is needed to draw attention.
That was not the feedback I was looking for. While there is a sufficient amount of drama in my book, I want the series to be an inspiration for people to start an entrepreneurial career. I don't want it to be yet another 'Inventing Anna' about Anna Delvey, 'The Dropout' about Elisabeth Holmes, etc. I am willing to rewrite the whole scenario as many times as it takes, but I'm not willing to turn the protagonists into criminals. I want the series to be about two real people building a real actual business. If you think entrepreneurs need to be crooked to have sufficient drama, think again please! (I never thought Belgian television makers and Belgian tax authorities would think alike.)
To prove those people wrong, I've made a new resolution. I have started writing short stories again, and I will be 'carpet bombing' every writing contest in Flanders and The Netherlands in the months to come. Let's see how many of the stories I am writing today will make it into print, or even better, win an award. Keep an eye on my Awards page if you want to keep track of my successes.
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