what is the possibility of selling 5000 copies of a self published book?

Question

thanks in advance

Answer 1

Pretty good, if you get enough buzz going.

Answer 2

Very slim, unless you're a really good salesperson as well as writer.
5000 are lot for a self-published book, and (do you already have a good, big outlet? your family's store (not so good, maybe), a big church and it's a spiritual book? etc....hard to think of one) it will be hard to find homes for them all.

Many people share books and don't buy. Especially the self-published ones. They are "checking it out." If it's a hit, it'll go by itself; then a real publisher will probably hear of it and pick it up. Good luck; you may need it if you already ordered!

Answer 3

A self-published book is like farming only 50 acres of land. You have to be a big farmer to make any money. You need to pay a publishing company like Barnes and Nobel to publish and advertise your book . If you don't, you will have to give the book away and write off the cost. Sorry.

Answer 4

Practically nil. The average self published book sells about 100 copies. To sell 5 thousand copies, you would have to dump so much money into advertising and promotion that it would take you another 5 thousand copies just to break even. Self publishing buys you a box of books. YOU have to do all the promotion. You would have to drive from bookstore to bookstore begging managers to put your books on the shelves. You would have to write letters tho thousands of other bookstores asking. I don't know if you know it but major bookstores now charge a premium to major publishers to place their books in strategic spots - the window, the tables inside the doors. That all comes out of your pocket.

You would also have to purchase copies to send to critics and beg them to review it - praying the reviews were favorable. You would have to purchase advertising space - online, in the paper - wherever. You would have to beg stores and libraries to have you for signings - and that would involve you investing in books and hoping people showed up and bought them.

Only 9 books self published have made it to the best seller list. The only one I can remember is Celestine Prophecy.

I will offer you a challenge. Write to me with the name of any book the self publisher you are interested in is promoting on their website. I will go to Ingram - the largest book distributor in the US - and using their special automated service I will tell you exactly how many copies that book has sold this year. You choose the book and write to me at [e-mail].

Also I hope you have done your homework on self publishers. Many of them are in major trouble Publish America is so bad that Absolute Write Water Cooler's Bewares and Background Checks has its own forum just for Publish America complaints - with 56 THOUSAND posts.

My advice is always this. If you feel your book is good, you owe it to you and to your work to spend 1 year to 18 months trying traditional publishing before you give in and vanity publish it. Send me the name of a book and the ISBN - I will be happy to tell you the sales figures. Pax - C

Answer 5

anything is possible you just have to work hard and in your particular case work very very hard unless you can put a significant amount of money behind this. Try to work on ways to develope a cult following for your book use alot of personalized marketing methods. pitch the book to clubs and organizations of the same theme. go to every book store in your area and ask to put them on the shelves and split the money. Anything that could be thought of in your mond can eventually be dragged out into reality, It is up to you

Answer 6

Well, do you have 5,000 friends and family?

If you want 5,000 people to see your book you must go throuhg a publishing company, but you do not need an agent.

Answer 7

Depends upon the book. There is no real way to tell beforehand.