One definition of something that sucks: One in four American adults read no books in 2006. The average number of books read by those surveyed who did read was seven.
According to a report from Bowker, there were 276,649 new titles and editions published in the U.S. in 2007 (2008’s stats should be revealed any day now.) If you add in the 134,773 on-demand and short run titles, that brings the U.S. production total up to a whopping 411,422 books. If you were going to read all of them, you’d have to read 47+ books an hour twenty-four hours a day for a year.
In 2004, 950,000 titles out of the 1.2 million tracked by Nielsen Bookscan sold fewer than 99 copies. Another 200,000 sold fewer than 1,000 copies. Only 25,000 sold more than 5,000 copies. The average book in America sells about 500 copies (source: Publishers Weekly, July 17, 2006).
There are no available statistics on the average number of books an author publishes per year, and individual production and sales to publishers varies, but most writers agree that an author has to publish a minimum of two titles per year to build and maintain their readership.
Dan Poynter cites statistics from the Brenner Information Group in his .pdf Time to Write that claim it takes 475 hours to write fiction books and 725 hours to write nonfiction. I’ve written a 100K fiction book in less than 500 hours, and I think I could do it again, as long as I have proper prep time and don’t do anything else during that time but write, eat, sleep, and write. I’m not the fastest, though; I know a couple of authors who have written short novels (70K or less) in under 50 hours. If you really want to feel lazy, you should consider how you compare to Lester Dent, author of the Doc Savage series, for which he produced 165 full-length novels (of at least 55,000 words each), one each month for about 17 years.
We’ve all heard how dismal our chances for success in publishing are. “.03 percent (3 out of 10,000) of all submissions are accepted for publication. Of those, 9 out of every 10 published novels fails to pay back its own production costs.”
Why all the depressing numbers this week? I love publishing statistics. I especially love the squeaky sounds they make when something or someone stomps on them. Numbers are such cold, definite little things, while they strike terror into the hearts of the uncertain, they’re also defenseless against the unknown, the unexpected, and the unfathomable.
That last part? Hopefully that’s represented by you and me.
Let’s wrestle first with the depressing statistics on how few books the average American reads. SpeedReading.com claims the average reading speed of an adult is 250 – 300 words per minute. When motivated, I can read a 100K book in under two hours, which would make my reading speed about 833 words per minute. Although I’ve slowed down quite a bit, I still consider myself a voracious reader, and when I’m not in a reading depression (which doesn’t happen very often) I read between 10 – 15 books a week, which would be about 104 times the national average.
Even as much as I read, there’s no way I can read even a healthy fraction of the new titles out there every year. Fortunately I’m not like that guy in the Twilight Zone episode; I don’t constitute the only reader on Earth.
I operate off the conviction that people who don’t read can be turned into readers. I give away books I love as gifts to my family, friends and blog visitors. I put free e-books on the internet which are accessible to everyone on the planet. I encourage everyone I know to read more; if they say they don’t have time I recommend audio books to listen to in the car. If they haven’t got room in the budget to buy books, I nag them to visit the library. My favorite conversation starter is “Last week I read an incredible novel…”
Am I obnoxious about it? Borderline. But just imagine how healthy Publishing would be if everyone in the industry, published or working toward it, did the same.
It’s enough work to write books, but now authors are expected to help sell them, too. The traditional avenues of book selling are rapidly becoming obsolete, so writers really have to think outside the box now. I won’t lecture you all again on the marvels of the internet – at least, not this week – but I do believe this is the future of intelligent self-promotion, and I explore it and think about it and use it as much as possible. I also encourage other writers to do the same, and talk about ideas with them, and listen to what they think. As blog writers and readers, we are the internet think-tank of Publishing.
With the pressure of day jobs and family and social demands, writers are discovering that they have almost no time to write, and when they do sneak in an hour here and there, they’re often too exhausted to produce anything of value. Simply to finish two books per year, I think the average writer has to work at least twenty hours a week. If you give yourself weekends off, that’s four hours a day. When was the last time you had four hours off from your life?
I’ve harped on creating and defending writing time since I started this gig, and it’s one of the most important aspects of being a writer. If you want to do this professionally, you’re probably going to have to sacrifice some non-essential activity. A good place to start is to cut back on the amount of television you watch, and instead use that time to write. Get up an hour earlier and write before you go into work. Dedicate every other day you have off to include one decent writing session. If you genuinely want to write, you have to make the time to write.
Rejection is difficult to deal with, especially if all you’re getting in return for your efforts are rejections. I sympathize, I really do. Come to my house some time and I’ll show you the boxes of rejection letters I have – ten years’ worth. I think it’s safe to say that I’m a modestly sucessful writer, and I still get rejected. Does it bug me? Sure. Does it stop me? No.
I’ve always said this is an endurance game, and the writers who keep at it, look for ways to improve their work, and keep trying new things have the best chance of getting into and staying in print.
First, if you’ve only written one novel, and you’ve submitted everywhere and have an entire box of rejections for it, I want you to file it away for now. No, to be honest, I want you to take it out in the backyard and burn it, but just for now, put it away. Once you’ve done that, I want you to do the one thing that every successful pro writer does: Write. Something. Else. When you’re done, submit that. Then repeat.
Determination cannot be measured. Neither can creativity, innovation or sheer mule-headedness. Whenever someone says to you “You can’t . . .” or “You won’t . . .” or “You’ll never. . .”, pity them. They’re trapped in the fortress of number fear, and they’re too busy quivering and whimpering over what they’ve been told to ever figure out a way to defy it. But why accept defeat before you even try to do something about it? Why not see it as a personal challenge?
I’m out here every day, challenging those statistics. I’ve already stomped them, many times over. I defy them to define me, my career or my industry. Because when it comes down to it, they’re only numbers. They can’t think, or innovate, or improve themselves. They really can’t do anything but look scary. But you and me? We can do so much more than that.
