I’ve Sold Over 10,000 Copies of My Books. Here’s the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
I’ve now sold 10,000 copies of my books.
Are you impressed by that number?
Don’t misunderstand this question, I’m not fishing for compliments. I’m genuinely so caught up in my work, and the titanic struggle it’s been to get to this number, that I don’t really have any perspective.
On the one hand, it seems like an impressive number. Furthermore, I just asked Gemini what it thought of my sales and this is what it said, “Take a moment to celebrate. You have beaten the statistical odds of the publishing industry by a landslide.”
It then went on to tell me that roughly 96% of all books published sell fewer than 1000 copies in their entire lifetime.
Here’s the breakdown of my sales.
Escape The System (2012) 5500 sales
Do The Work You Love (2020) 1000 sales
The Personal Freedom Manifesto (2021) 1500 sales
The Rebel Code (2023) 2000 sales
So, every single book I’ve written is in the top 4% for copies sold. Furthermore, with one book at over 5000 sales, I’m in the top 10% to 13% of all published writers, including those with major publishers.
So, why don’t I feel like more of a success?
The Details
Don’t get me wrong, I’m hugely appreciative of my 10,000 sales. Achieving this milestone ranks amongst the greatest successes of my life. Furthermore, I feel like something has shifted.
I have a new level of confidence and belief. I feel established.
And yet . . . when you factor in the length of time it’s taken me to reach this milestone, it no longer seems so impressive (at least not to me).
It’s taken me 14 brutal years to make this breakthrough. That’s less than 1000 copies sold per year.
Not so impressive now, right?
Of course, this isn’t 14 years of me working full-time as a writer.
Instead, I’ve averaged around 800 hours per year for this time period. That’s about 18 hours a week (for the rest of the time, I’ve worked as a tennis coach and hypnotherapist).
Not all of these 18 hours have been effective.
It frustrates me to say that about half of them have been wasted trying to build an audience on social media, making unimpactful Tube videos, featuring on podcasts that didn’t drive any sales and writing book proposals for publishing companies that never got back to me (ironically, the one book deal I got, I didn’t write a proposal).
So, there’s been a lot of wasted effort and difficulty in building momentum but, still, 14 years is a long period of time. I feel like I should have done more.
A lot more . . .
The Long Term Goal
The next thing I’m going to say might surprise you.
What do you think my writing goal is?
Considering I’ve been writing for 14 years and “only” got to 10,000 sales, you may think I want to reach 100,000 or that I might have my sights set on making £1000 a month to supplement my regular income.
These are good goals for any author to have. However, they aren’t mine.
I want to sell 1 million copies of my books.
It doesn’t matter how many books I have to write to do this, I want to cross the 1 million sales mark (and this excludes audiobook sales and KU pages read – which I haven’t included in my 10,000 sales total).
So, bearing that in mind, how far have I come on my journey?
1% of the way.
Or, to put it differently, I still need to sell 990,000 copies of my books.
Perhaps now you understand why reaching 10,000 sales has been bittersweet for me.
But let’s not dwell on the negatives.
There have been some truly amazing moments on this journey.
Why I Write
For me, the best thing about being a writer is the response I get from readers. Whether that’s in the form of a review on Amazon or Goodreads or an email in my inbox, nothing beats hearing from someone who’s been impacted by my books.
To say it makes my day is an understatement. It energises me. More than that, though, it makes me feel like I’m living my life’s purpose.
You see, I break the cardinal rule for writing self-help books. I DON’T write for market.
This approach is contrary to what every so-called expert in book marketing preaches. Their message is universally similar – solve a problem people are struggling with, find a term that gets searched frequently on Google or Amazon, or locate a niche that’s hot at the moment, and write a book for this audience.
On the surface, this makes sense. It’s smart to make sure there’s an audience for something you’re creating. However, the problem I’ve encountered is that I have zero inspiration to write about habits, introverts, leadership or stoicism (for me, this is the cinematic equivalent of endless sequels and franchise reboots – there’s no originality).
I want to go deeper. I want to get to the core of what’s holding people back from changing their lives – the system we live in and how that crushes our outlook and self-belief.
That’s why I get so pumped when a reader is impacted by my books.
I feel like I’ve made a connection. I feel like I’ve been heard and, more importantly, they’ve been heard.
There are few things in life as great as that.
How Much Have I Been Paid As A Writer?
But what about the money, I hear you say?
To be honest with you, it’s inconsequential at this level. Any money I make goes straight back into Amazon ads, the operating costs of building and running a website, occasional promotions and paying for book covers.
If you really want to know, I estimate that I’ve made about £15,000 from my 10,000 book sales. It might be a little more than this as I try to make £2 per copy sold. However, I’ve now run so many promotions where I sell my books for $0.99 that it’s bringing the average down.
Of course, writing books opens up more financial opportunities than just selling books. Off the back of my books, I’ve picked up other writing jobs and made some money from coaching. However, this sum isn’t enough to replace my regular income and I don’t think it ever will until I start selling tens of thousands of copies per year.
Is that possible?
Call me delusional but I believe it is.
I’ve always believed it is. That’s what started this dream of becoming a bestselling self-help author.
When I was 22, I had a vision of myself speaking on a stage and inspiring people with my words.
I then remembered the life changing impact that some very powerful books have had on me (The Power Of Your Subconscious Mind, As A Man Thinketh, The Celestine Prophecy), and thought, “If I can do for someone else, what these books have done for me, that would be truly incredible.”
That vision was so real to me it felt like destiny.
So, despite all the difficulty I had in writing my first book (I rewrote it four times), my total lack of marketing knowledge, my aversion for technology while operating a business that’s 90% online and week after week of checking books sales and seeing a measly 1 or 2 on the Amazon dashboard, my belief hasn’t wavered and my dream has kept me going.
Of course, my successes have also kept me going. Throughout my writing career, I’ve had just about enough success to justify the continuation of my journey while never quite achieving the breakthrough I’ve desired.
It’s a frustrating paradox. However, I’m still here and my sights are now set on the next milestone – 100,000 sales.
The Secret To Selling More Books
But what if I had my time again?
What would I do differently if I could rewind the clock to 2012 when I released my first book?
The answer is simple: WRITE MORE BOOKS.
I have an author friend called Thibaut Meurisse. We both started out at around the same time. While I’ve just crossed the 10,000 sales barrier, he’s well passed the 1,000,000 sales mark.
His secret?
As far as I can tell, and he’s alluded to this in interviews as well, his prolific output is the reason for his success.
He releases between 4 and 5 books a year and has a catalogue of close to 30 books.
Yes, some of his title choices are excellent as well – Master Your Emotions, Dopamine Detox – but with every book he releases, he gives himself a greater chance for some of them to become perennial sellers.
Now, unless I quit my other jobs (and even then I doubt it would be possible), I’m not capable of writing and releasing 4 to 5 books a year. However, I can do one a year, every year.
This is my new focus.
My next title, scheduled to be released in December of this year, is “Self-Improvement is M*sturbation.” This book is based on 5 key philosophical tenets from the film Fight Club, that once applied to your life, will transform you in ways you wouldn’t have imagined possible. (If you’re interested in learning more about this book, and want a discount on it when launched, subscribe to my newsletter below).
After that, I’ve got plans for a new book release in 2027, a course in 2028, and another book in 2029. Let’s see how it goes.
Thank You
Not 1 of my 10,000 sales would be possible without you. So, I just want to say a massive thank you for buying my book, leaving a review, recommending it to others and believing in my work. It means the world to me and I’m eternally grateful.
GET YOUR FREE COURSE
If you want to discover a passion you can make a living from and overcome the fears that are holding you back, check out my free course 30 Days to Escape The System. Click here to get the course right now! (You’ll find the tips on developing belief and self-confidence fascinating!)