What is the average number of copies a Picture Book can sell a year? Best answer on the web
I would appreciate it if you could provide ranges and examples, such as how
many copies did Miss Spider's Tea Party, Stellaluna, Crickwing,
Olivia, and others sold in their first year (and after).
Thank you!
I?m impressed with your books and your website (http://www.pers.com/) and the associated product tie-ins. You have a very attractive product that should appeal to a wide market. Instead of just ssearching for information about what would be an average first-print run for a children?s book, I?ve also collected a variety of resources that discuss the children?s book market and industry and current trends.
To answer your original question, the consensus seems to be that a first-print run of 7,500 ? 15,000 would be average for an average book. However, there are so many variables in picture book publishing that it?s essential that you explore the industry further. The books you?re benchmarking against (Stellaluna, Miss Spider, Olivia) are exceptional best sellers. They have developed a loyal following and associated product tie-ins.
Your books seem to be well-received and you?ve been able to generate lots of coverage for your downloadable games. It?s clear that you have an educational component that gives your works a special appeal that may make them appropriate for schools as well. I suggest that you study the current trends in the market to be able to better estimate the potential target audience. It?s important to note the two major segments in children?s book publishing ? trade and mass market. I believe your books and products would be very suitable for the mass market. One of the resources I found suggests that the ?mass market edition of a popular children?s book might be 75,000 to 100,000 copies compared to 7,500 to 15,000 for a traditional title.?
I enjoyed this research so much that I collected much more information than your original question was looking for. I hope you will find it useful for developing your marketing strategy. Your books are very attractive and I believe you will be very successful.
Best wishes for your career.
~ czh ~
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CHILDREN?S PICTURE BOOKS -- STATISTICS
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http://www.robinfriedman.com/donna_bray.html
Robin Freedman Interviews Donna Bray, Executive Editor, Hyperion Books for Children
What is the approximate print run of a picture book these days? A novel?
First print runs vary dramatically, but let's say 10,000-15,000 for your average picture book, and 5,000-7,500 for your average novel. We'd rather reprint quickly than wind up with a lot of inventory, so we manage our printings very carefully.
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http://www.robinfriedman.com/dlouhy.html
Robin Freedman Interviews Caitlyn Dlouhy, Executive Editor, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Simon & Schuster Children?s Publishing Division
What is the approximate print run of a picture book these days? A novel?
This is impossible to approximate, because there are so many factors to take into consideration, including the author's previous track record, in-house enthusiasm for the book, subject matter, etc.
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http://www.januarymagazine.com/profiles/primages/numeroff.html
January Interview: Laura Numeroff
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and other books.
So it took a while for it to develop an audience but then it did. A normal first run for a children's book is 10,000. By the time I wrote If You Give A Moose A Muffin, not only was I following a formula, but the first printing was 238,000.
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http://www.awn.com/mag/issue4.09/4.09pages/4.09internet.php3
Miss Spider's Tea Party.
David Kirk's popular Miss Spider tales have sold more than three million copies worldwide. When Miss Spider's Tea Party debuted in Fall, 1994 it was selected by Parents magazine as one of "1994's Top Ten Picture Books" and cited by the School Library Journal as "extraordinary."
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http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2004/01/22/mordicai_gersteins_tightrope_act?mode=PF The Man Who Walked Between the Towers
1/22/2004 -- Mordicai Gerstein's tightrope act
Illustrator's retelling of the story of a daring feat offers kids a different view of the twin towers
WILLIAMSBURG -- A tightrope walk is a delicate balance, a fancy flight and a flight of fancy. So is a children's picture book such as "The Man Who Walked Between the Towers," by Mordicai Gerstein. Even before it won the coveted Randolph Caldecott Medal for outstanding children's book illustration last week, "The Man Who Walked Between the Towers" was itself a daredevil act: a story of New York's World Trade Center filled with wit and laughter, without smoke, flame, or horror.
The book appeared last September and got rave reviews. The 15,000-copy first printing sold out in three months. Since the Caldecott was announced, Roaring Brook has gone back to press for another 100,000 copies.
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http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1589/2003_Oct_14/110809188/p1/article.jhtml
He's a pig success: Illustrator Ian Falconer dazzles children with his best-selling books starring Olivia the pig ? books
A star himself among illustrators, Falconer published Olivia in 2000 and shot fight by the dreaded sophomore slump with 2001's hit Olivia Saves the Circus. "This one was more scary," though, admits the 43-year-old artist. After all, Falconer has seen Olivia blossom from a gift for a relative into a publishing phenomenon with 2 million copies in print, not to mention related toys like Olivia dolls and paint sets.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2003-10-06-olivia_x.htm
Oink if you love 'Olivia'
Olivia was published in 2000 to rave reviews. A year later came Olivia Saves the Circus. Together they've sold 1.6 million copies in the USA, his publisher reports, with 23 foreign editions; 400,00 copies of Missing Toy are in print.
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http://www.bloomington.in.us/~mybonnie/books.html
UNCLE ELI'S (Special-For-Kids, Most Fun Ever, Under-The-Table) PASSOVER HAGGADAH
Published 1999, No Starch Press, San Francisco, CA (64 pages, hardcover & paperback) Matzo with personality, a wicked, rotten Pharaoh, the Ten Plagues (not one was left out), four (modern) children: Smarty, Nasty, Simple, & Sam. This book is on amazon.com's bestseller list! The first printing (12,000 copies) sold out in four months! So, after the Four Questions we ask, "Who would have guessed?"
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http://www.write4kids.com/answer10.html
ANSWERS FROM LAST MONTH'S "ASK THE AUTHOR"
BRUCE BALAN
A typical print run for a first time picture book is 7,500 - 12,000. You can do the math. At $15.00 retail you?ll get $7,500 if the first run sells out (which does not always happen). So unless you have a lot of books published, or have a hit, it is difficult to make a living. I?ve heard various authors or agents say that you really can?t make a good living on royalties until you have 30 books in print. But of course that depends on how well your books sell.
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http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/2/prweb102825.htm
Children's Books Are Hot, and They Just Got Hotter!!
Houston, TX (PRWEB) February 6, 2004-?Only three out of 15,000 children's picture books submitted to mainstream publishers are actually printed each year.
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http://www.raabassociates.com/tomarket/topic4.htm
"To Market" -- Sales
In terms of profitability, children's books benefit from being sold effectively through multiple sales channels. Sales to schools, libraries, and via retailers, the Internet and special sales channels all contribute to the success of a book. The Internet is a particular help to new and smaller publishers who are likely to have difficulty getting their books placed with national wholesalers and distributors. 1-2:02
***** This article has lots of marketing ideas and associated statistics. See additional columns as well. http://www.raabassociates.com/tomarket/tomarket.htm
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http://www.cbcbooks.org/pdfs/IndustrySalesSurveypacket.pdf
2002 Industry Sales Survey
The Children?s Book Council
***** This is a 7-page report on the results of the survey for the years 1999-2001. It will give you some starting figures for considering how the market is segmented and what is happening in various distribution channels.
http://www.cbcbooks.org/html/pubs.html
The Children's Book Council produces many publications and bibliographies of interest to teachers, librarians, parents, booksellers, writers, and illustrators. Many are available online; some may be ordered from CBC. Ordering information is available from the links below.
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CHILDREN?S PICTURE BOOKS -- THE MARKET
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http://web.utk.edu/~wrobinso/561.html
Contemporary Book Publishing in the U.S.
***** This site offers a large collection of exceptionally comprehensive lecture notes. See especially the one on Children?s Book Publishing and Selling Books notes.
http://web.utk.edu/~wrobinso/561_lec_child.html
Children's Book Publishing
***** This is an excellent long article covering all aspects of the children?s book publishing industry. Here are a few excerpts but the whole article is worth reading.
Where Are Books Sold?
It is important to note that increasingly both trade and mass market children's books are sold in a wide variety of outlets. Here is a ranked list that reflects the past few years:
Discount stores = 29% (Target, Walmart, KMart)
Book clubs = 18%
Large chain bookstores = 10%
Food and drug stores = 7%
Mail order = 6%
Independent/small chain bookstores 5%
Toy stores = 5%
Variety stores = 3%
Warehouse/price clubs 2%
All others = 15%
Children's book publishing is divided into two segments: the trade segment where books are distributed via retail book stores, and the mass market segment where books are distributed via a variety of mass market outlets. As indicated above, the mass market sales are notably large. This has changed somewhat in the last few years as more of the national bookstore chains open super stores in more communities.
Expanding the Market
For many years, publishers have been frustrated by their inability to grow the market beyond the book stores, especially in earlier decades when many communities lacked a book store. Mass market distribution has created many retail opportunities, especially for publishers with popular, inexpensive titles. Note that a mass market edition of a popular children's book might be 75,000 to 100,000 copies compared to 7,500 to 15,000 for a traditional title.
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http://www.underdown.org/articles.htm
The Business of Children's Books:
http://www.underdown.org/trends.htm
Trends in Children's Books: The Business Side
http://www.underdown.org/oldtrend.htm
Trends in Children's Books: The Business Side (Archived Version)
It can be difficult to keep up with what is going on in the business side of children's books. Once a genteel industry dedicated to providing good books for libraries, children's books are now big business, expected to contribute significantly to the bottom line of media conglomerates. Here I comment on the business, and include gleanings from news in Publishers Weekly and my contacts, along with a list of relevant issues of PW to request at your local library. Read The Horn Book, and Booklist, and all the other good review sources, but for industry news, look to PW.
***** This is a somewhat dated article but the sections on Brand Names and Bookstores have some ideas that are still relevant and helpful.
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http://www.bic.org.uk/Cbmcuse1.doc
BIC Children's Book Marketing Categories
User Notes for Allocation of Categories
Version 1: First Definitive Release (March 2000)
The five sections (shown in full on page 2) are:
INTEREST LEVEL ? indicating the age range for which the book is intended.
BROAD SUBJECT ? indicating the broad subject area of the book.
TYPE / FORMAT ? indicating the physical format or special features of the book.
CHARACTER ? indicating whether the book features an established children?s character. TIE-IN ? indicating whether the book is a film or TV tie-in edition.
Book Industry Communication -- BIC, set up and sponsored by The Publishers Association, The Booksellers Association, The Library Association and The British Library, develops and promotes standards for electronic commerce and communication in the book and serials industry.
***** The guidelines on Children?s Book Marketing Categories are helpful in developing your positioning for your books.
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http://www.pazsaz.com/topbook9.html
http://www.buy.com/retail/list3.asp?loc=15593
The New York Times® listing--week of April 4, 2004
Children's Picture Books
***** See current list.
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http://home.comcast.net/~antaylor1/top50child.html
http://www.bestwebbuys.com/books/greatest/children
Bestselling Children's Books of All Time
(As of: 17-Dec-2001)
Hardcover children's books that have sold at least 750,000 copies, as compiled by Publisher's Weekly. Books are ranked in order by number of books sold from date of publication through the year 2000.
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http://writingforkids.lifetips.com/Cat.asp__Q__id__E__55195
My Top Ten Tips and Advice: WritingForKids > Picture Books
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http://www.hbook.com/index.shtml
The Horn Book, Inc.
Publications About Books for Children and Young Adults
***** This is an exceptional resource for anyone interested in the children?s books market.
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CHILDREN?S BOOKS ? GENERAL RESOURCES
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http://www.underdown.org/index.html
Writing Children's Books, Illustrating Children's Books, and Publishing Children's Books: The Purple Crayon
This is a personal site, created and maintained by Harold D. Underdown the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Children's Books.
***** This site offers lots of articles and other resources. The articles section is worth browsing for ideas on marketing.
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http://picturingbooks.imaginarylands.org/
Picturing Books: A Web Site About Picture Books
http://childlitnavigator.imaginarylands.org/about.html
Children?s Literature Navigator
http://passport.imaginarylands.org/menu.html
Passport: International Children's Literature
***** Three amazing websites from Denise I. Matulka.
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BOOK MARKETING ? GENERAL RESOURCES
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http://www.parapublishing.com/getpage.cfm?file=statistics/index.html
Para Publishing
Here are some interesting facts and figures about the book industry.
Sources are noted when known. Many of the statistics reference web sites or email addresses. These are the people and organizations that originally published the information. The statistic is not necessarily on the referenced site. Contact the person or organization through the email address or web site for more information on the statistic.
***** This is an amazing collection of statistics about publishing and the book industry. It?s a fun read that might yield some worthwhile nuggets for your marketing efforts.
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http://www.parapublishing.com/getpage.cfm?file=resource/promote.html&userid=33E2B64E8D9A88078FC655D24D62FF06 Promoting and Marketing Your Book
***** Lots of ideas with corresponding links for every imaginable way to promote your book.
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http://www.bookmarket.com/index.html
If you are into book marketing, book promotion, free publicity, self-publishing, e-publishing, print-on-demand, or selling your books, you've come to the right site. ? John Kremer, editor, Book Marketing Update newsletter
***** Lots of links and resources.
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http://www.bookmarket.com/1001edit.html
Editorial: The First Step in Book Marketing
The first step in marketing any product is to produce something worthwhile, something people want or need, something people will buy. As products, books involve a combination of content, author, title, design, packaging, and price. All these elements must work together to create a bestselling book.
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SEARCH STRATEGY
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children's picture books
marketing children's picture books
trends publishing children's picture books
Thank you for your prompt reply!
I have a book similar in format to Rainbow Fish, Stellaluna, Olivia, etc, (basically, a 40 page hardcover full color picture book, that retails at 16 dollars).
To be able to market this book to big distributors, I am being asked several questions. One of those is: how many copies of your book do you expect to sell within a year (assuming my book would have some sort of publicity and will be available through regular channels: e.g. Barnes & Noble, Borders, Amazon.com etc?
I have no idea of what number to give as an answer. I do believe I have a good book and I probably want to give it an above average estimate, but my numbers have to sound realistic and I have no idea what "realistic" is.
I was hoping you could get me a list of some picture books (bestsellers and not bestsellers) and what they sell in a year (preferably their first year) to at least give me a basic idea for what my answer should be.
Thank you.
Thank you for the five stars and the very generous tip. I look forward to seeing your books at my nearest bookstore -- or, better yet, Costco!
~ czh ~
I?ve started researching your question and it?s proving to be a very frustrating project. How many copies of a picture book are sold per year depends on a huge number of variables. I?ve found some good information about current trends in the industry but very little on sales figures for specific books. I?m not sure it would be useful to find the average number of copies a picture book can sell in a year because the average would cover the spectrum of best seller classics that sell hundreds of thousands of copies as well as brand new ones that can?t even sell out their first print run. It will be extremely difficult to get yearly information for specific titles.
Could you please tell me more about the context of your question so that I can get you what you need. Are you interested in finding out how to get published as a picture book writer/illustrator? Are you interested in how much a new author is likely to make with a first book? Are you interested only in the publication volume of successful picture books?
The children?s picture book industry is going through a lot of changes. There are new marketing strategies to help increase sales. Would you be interested in getting some information about current publishing trends?
Please tell me more about what you?re looking for so I can get you the information you need.
I look forward to your clarification.
~ czh ~
Thanks! I actually have two books ... and yes, it is nearly impossible to get a book published, especially a children's book. Now the challenge is to distribute them to all major chains and market it correctly.
The first book, "Pookie and Tushka find a little piano", is for all ages (most likely 2-8). It has a story about frienship, some educational content (about penguins and polar bears) and comes with a CD-ROM with song and games. You can preview it here: http://www.pers.com/icelands/books/
The second book, "Here Come The Blobbies", is for ages 5 and up (most likely 5-12) It has a sci-fi/fantasy story, some educational content (about geometric shapes and colors) and comes with a CD-ROM with songs and games. You can preview it here: http://www.pers.com/blobbieworld/books/
Both books are 10x10 inches, 40 pages. full color hardcover with dust jacket and a CD-ROM/Audio CD. Reviews have been very positive and both books have been nominated for "Best Children's Book of 2003" at 3 different book awards. So I am assuming the books are above average and will do well in the market :)
Right now the books are being sold mainly through Amazon.com, Fry's Electronics and some small bookstores. If I am able to get a big distributor like National Book Network (with whom we are in talks right now) I will have access to Barnes & Noble and other book chains which will give the books great exposure.
About marketing plans: I am attending Book Fairs (we have a booth at BookExpo America 2004), we have bought some advertisement at Amazon.com and small magazines aimed at the education market, and we have merchandize based on the characters and soon toys which should help sell the books.
Please let me know if you require any more information.
Thank you for your help!
Congratulations on your book! One source I found said, ?Only three out of 15,000 children's picture books submitted to mainstream publishers are actually printed each year.? You?re obviously doing something right.
I?d love to help you get good supporting information to help you market your book. Please tell me a little more about it. What age group is it intended for? What is the subject area of the book? What is its physical format or does it have any special features? What are the chief marketing channels you think you will aim for?
I think I will be able to get you some helpful information. Please tell me any additional information you can share. I should have an answer for you tomorrow morning.
Congratulations!
~ czh ~
I am impressed by the amount of information you were able to find! Thank you so much! This will help me out a lot!
Thank you for your best wishes, I am crossing my fingers :)
#If you have any other info about this subject , Please add it free.# |
July 30th, 2010 edit