How many books have I sold?

Let’s Talk About What Actually Happens After a Book Deal

This is a very vulnerable essay for me. It is not expected for authors to reveal the ins and outs of a book launch. I can’t tell if it’s actually frowned upon, but it just feels like it’s just a no-go zone. It feels unclassy. I have personally never seen it done. But I am about to lay bare the details of the promotion and launch of my new book We Need Your Art ! The magic, the mystery, the highs, the lows, the numbers, the goods. Creative industries are shrouded in mystery. I believe that we NEED transparency. Thank you for bearing witness to this part of the process that normally stays behind closed doors.

The following questions have come from my creative community on instagram and you are so welcome to ask me further questions in the comments.

How has the promotional aspect of launching a book been?

HUGE!

I set myself an 100 day challenge. I promoted my book for 100 days straight, all the way up to book launch. It was a beautiful, hard challenge. But I walk the talk baby! I was going to champion my creation!

What did I do for marketing:

• Shared my book or talked about my book every day on social media for 100 days. This included posting directly about it! hey pre-order my book Adding the link to my stories each day! It included talking around it! Sharing my art, my words, and reminding people of my magic. I shared my testimonials, and write-ups I got from other authors! I wrote many subtacks, I made reels, I shared the process. This was by far the biggest part of my marketting. Just showing up and constantly reminding artists that I had created something for them!

• I told people about the book in real life! In my communities that I actually physically exist within.

• I went on around 40 podcasts! Most of them are incredible small to medium artist led community podcasts. I met so many amazing people taking up space and sharing wisdom. I loved getting to talk to ACTUAL creatives doing the fucking work. What an honour.

• I reached out for blurbs! It was icky! But there were so many incredible authors who were very generous with their time. Thank you to Jay Shetty, Matt Haigh, Yung Pueblo, Whitney Hanson, Martha Beck and Alex Elle. I am so blessed.

• We organised events and workshops! We hosted the events and workshops!

What did the publishers do for marketing.

I know I haven’t seen the entirety of what the team have done for me! But here is just a little taste:

• I had three teams from the UK AUS AND USA! They all did things on all different sides of the globe, and interestingly they all took different approaches.

• USA focussed on getting podcasts, and approached press, and got early copies of my books out to some amazing authors. In general Yuleza was just a champion of Amie.

• The UK did more of the event organising. I had an incredible event last night in London and a speaking gig at Sunday Paper Live on Sunday that came through Caroline. I always get excited to get an email from Caroline!

• The Australian team got me posters in Sydney and Melbourne! So cool, people have been sending me photos. They have also paid for ads on instagram and podcasts. They helped me organise some events too! Kaelee and Madison have been angels, and I love them.

• All three regions handled influencer outreach and influencer packages.

• The publicists deal with more rejections than authors, and authors deal with a lot. I know all three of them did a huge amount of outreach and that we got some big no’s from some of the major podcasts and big publications / events! They all fought for me and it was lovely to feel like I had a team who believed in me! I also got a chance to meet every single one of them in person, which really delights me. I felt so loved.

How does the process of getting the book to bookstores work? Who talks to them?

It is the Publisher’s job to sell the books to the bookstores. Specifically, I believe it is the sales team in the publishing house. This has been one of the parts of the journey that has been the hardest for me. I am a self pubbed author, which means I have sold all my books online. No bookstores. Working with a publisher meant a few different things, but for me the biggest difference was that my book would be in book stores! I was very excited to go to my favourite place in the world (all bookstores, any bookstore, anywhere in the world) and see my baby!

Now, I have worked with a lot of authors over the years, and spoken to MANY people who have navigated the publishing industry. I have heard a lot of behind the scenes - I felt very ready to navigate it. I was not going to be surprised! I was not going to be disappointed! I was ready! But no one had told me that my book might not be in bookstores. On the morning of my book launch I went around NYC and visited several bookstores, none of them had We Need Your Art. That was hard on the morning of launch. I even had my beautiful photographer with me to take photos of me signing. It was a moment of intense vulnerability as bookshop after bookshop did not have my boko. A few days later, I did eventually find a bookstore in Brooklyn that had a few, and the Barnes and Noble in Union Square had one at the very back of the store (I moved it to the front and put it on top of Let Them). I went into a big Waterstones in Oxford when I got back home, they didn’t have it either. I looked to James “but this is where they keep all the books!” I said. In the matter of aforementioned transparency, I’ve found it really hard.

This definitely needs to be spoken about more, and I have raised this with my publishers and they have listened to me. Authors, especially debut authors, expect to have their books be in at least some bookstores when they publish. I got a substantial book deal, I really thought my book baby would be in a fair few. But she isn’t! At least not in the UK, or USA, not been to AUS yet.

When I took this to my publishers, my incredible US editor talked me through it. She explained that the bulk of my books were bought by amazon. I’m not sure if they didn’t sell the book to the bookstores, or if the bookstore buyers just weren’t interested in We Need Your Art - but the focus has been on online sales.

I’m not really sure what’s happened here, but I have taken care of myself gently as I navigated it.

How did book launch events get organized?

This seems to be sort of half done by publishers, have done by authors. I got a warning from all three regions that the “bookshop event space is strange right now” - all three teams said nearly that exact sentence word for word. Why it’s strange I am not sure, but they all warned me that I might not be able to get events happening.

There was a communication error for the USA publisher, and they didn’t realise I was coming to NYC until January. By which point, they said it was a bit late to organize. They also said that “no one had asked for me” which I didn’t realise was a thing. But what I’ve gathered is that the major bookstores ask for authors, not the other way around. So for the US events, my incredible agent Amanda Bernadi stepped in. When I tell you I have the best agent in the world… I fucking mean it. Amanda is fighting for me as an author, not just for this book, but for my whole arse career. I feel so seen and supported by her. She organised with three incredible independent book stores, three events: two in Brooklyn and one in Philly.

They were amazing. Like truly some of the best evenings of my entire life. I feel emotional about it. Like… fuck. If you were there, you made my book launch.

Caroline from the UK publisher organised a wonderful event in London for me. It happened last night - it was pure, grassroots, cozy bookshop, magic. For Australia it was a collabed effort! I have three events, one in Sydney two in Melbourne! And we tag teamed this one. I am so excited.

Events have been worth it for me. I have loved getting to actually be in the room with artists and have the opportunity to tell them how important they are in person.

How was the actual day of the book launch?

It was one of the best days of my life.

I don’t know how else to say it. It was better than my wedding lol.

I don’t know why, I cried a lot of the day. But I really needed to cry. I needed that purging of emtoions. It was the most sparkly day. The whole ten days in new york sparkled. It felt like an ODE TO ME and the work I had done, and I fell in love with NYC.

The day itself went like this:

Woke up to a big view of NYC.

Went and had breaky with James and Patty, our photographer / videographer at a great cafe.

Found a jewellery store and bought myself a really cool ring?!

Went to book stores, and found no books, a harder moment.

Had a cry time on my bed for about an hour. Needed.

Had lunch with my editor, her assistant my publicist, my agent, and James! It was so lovely :)

Had a negroni and some dinner with Amanda, my agent, Margaret my fiction agent, James and Kim the owner of the agency! Talked shop, super fun!

Got an uber to Brooklyn, was very worried no one would show, arrived to a huge queue of artists outside the GORGEOUS book store.

Had the best fucking evening ever. Amanda interviewed me. I got to talk about what matters most in the world to me, and be with artists. I was so overjoyed. Also I was wearing my robe?! Like, It was amazing.

I was reeling when I got into bed.

Did you pay for your own book tour?

Yes! This is my choice. Again, I am a debut traditional author, and Publisher’s wouldn’t have funded me gallivanting around the world. So James and I have paid for the travel. It was a choice. It was a choice that has delighted me. I fear James is a little shitty about leaving home again, but I am excited. I love being with artists in beautiful parts of the world.

Has the book sold well?

Okay, let’s look at figures! Writers don’t share their sales figures. But I am about to share mine. Will I regret it? Will I get in trouble? I don’t know.

We are looking at week one! In three different regions. This includes all pre-sales, which I’ve been pushing for 100 days straight.

In the first week this is what my sales looked like:

USA / CANADA.

2527 copies sold across all formats.

1643 of those were hardcover,

347 ebook, and

547 audio.

UK / Europe

My publisher sent me this

"We have currently sold in 2,701 copies into the UK market, over a nice spread of retailers, with the majority going to Amazon.

We currently only have TCM figures for the first week of sales for We Need Your Art, where we sold 448 copies."

For 24 hours I thought I had sold 2701 copies in the UK and I was fucking stoked, only to re-read and realise, they distrubuted that many, and that we have sold 448.

It’s a rollercoaster of emotions over here.

AUS:

Australia only have five days of data, and they don’t have audiobook info.

But we have sold:

Physical: 486

Ebook: 26

Total: 512

Total:

3487 in the first week.

is this good?

In respect to industry standards:

I am a debut trad author, so I am not super informed about world because of the aforementioned secrecy, but I asked chat GPT. It says 3000-5000 is a '“pretty good” first week.

But for me:

3487 artists have my book. This is very beautiful and very good. I could never have believed this possible a few years ago. I am so grateful for every single one of you who bought her and hope that my book ignites a fucking FIRE under you.

How do you actually feel about sales?

I feel like I am fighting for every sale at the moment, and the fight is working. I am showing up with my whole heart, doing everything I can to fight for this book baby and I am seeing my work WORK! Creatives are getting this book baby! But I day dream about EASE. I dream about compounding interest! I secretly dream about virality, which is not on brand for Amie. A lucky break! I’ve heard about those! But I know it is a privilege to fight for this book, and to in turn fight for the artists of this world. This is my job, and I love my job. It is hard and it is beautiful.

Did you want to get on any best seller lists?

I was careful about any goals that went beyond this simple outcome: My book finds creatives and takes precious care of them.

I am a real ambitious girly. I have adhd. I dopamine hunt. It’s easy for me to latch onto external goals and obsess over them.

So I was careful, and am continuing to be careful going forwards. I acknowledge that I have a real hunger to impact and connect, and I love that about myself. But accolades like best seller lists aren’t necessarily a good way to judge that, and certainly won’t bring me ever lasting joy. I already feel so succesful and so joyful. I don’t want this “game” to make me forget that.

What does it actually take to hit the NYT best seller list?

Another part of this industry shrouded in ambiguous mystery!

After some research this is what I’ve figured out:

• To hit #10–#15 in my category which I think would’ve been Advice, you need around 5,000–7,000 copies in a single week, with:

  • The majority being hardcover (physical books are weighted most)

  • Sales spread across multiple retailers, especially:

    • Barnes & Noble

    • Independent bookstores

    • Bookshop.org

    • Amazon (but not just Amazon)

  • Minimal to no flagged bulk orders

• To hit #1–#5: you’re usually looking at 8,000–15,000+ copies.

Mel Robbins secured 100,000 pre-orders for Let Them… hence why she sits at number 1.

All this being said, my agent reckons I was about 800 sold books away from being on the NYT best seller list in the week WNYA debuted.

What happens next?

I am only half way through the tour.

We are going to BERLIN on Monday! And have an event there on the evening of the 31st, I’d love to see you there ! TICKETS ARE HERE :)

Then we are off to AMSTERDAM on the 5th we are having an event! Info is here!

Then we are off to Australia! James and I are both Ozzies, so we are going home to give Australian Artists attention.

TICKETS FOR SYDNEY

TICKETS FOR MELBOURNE

TICKETS FOR MORNINGTON PENISULA

BASICALLY, what happens next is that we keep promoting this book baby. I’ve been told that the author gets forgotten pretty quickly by Publishers after the first two weeks of the book going out there, but this book is for the long haul. I want to be telling people about her when I am 80.

How are you feeling?

Left this lovely question until last.

I am oscillating between so joyful, so exhausted, a little bit sad, a little bit overwhelmed, little bit fuck yeah this is awesome, to anxious, back to joyful. But I am consistently grateful. It is the one constant. I am so fucking thankful. I’m thankful mostly for you, actually. It is the creative community that are supporting this book baby. The artists. You. I am so fucking lucky.