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The SFF All-Time Sale List (vol 2) (updated Dec 2018)


Werthead
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I spent the day coallating the new list.

There were 237 authors on last year's list, we're now up to 344, so this has been a lot of work. Mostly from Jussi, obviously, but also AncalagonTheBlack and TerokNor, who provided some solid figures for German authors.

I think we'll have to look at introducing some lock, maybe around the 200 mark, to keep this from spiralling out of control. With tons of indie authors now selling tens of thousands of copies I think trying to catch everything in the genre is futile.

 

December 2018 updated version

Edited by Werthead
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16 hours ago, Werthead said:

I think we'll have to look at introducing some lock, maybe around the 200 mark, to keep this from spiralling out of control.

This sounds reasonable.

 

We have new US numbers for R. Scott Bakker:

With over 175,000 copies in print, the high fantasy novels of R. Scott Bakker have dazzled fans from around the world

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Great work with the new list!

 

On 24.12.2016 at 5:51 PM, Werthead said:

That's the same figure as a decade ago.

Oops...

 

It looks like Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind has sold more than one million copies in the US:

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/297978/the-name-of-the-wind-by-patrick-rothfuss/

OVER 1 MILLION COPIES SOLD!

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Paul Hoffman

The sequel to 'The Left Hand Of God', which sold over 20,000 copies

 

From the new Orbit US catalog:

https://www.hachettebookgroup.biz/_b2b/media/media_assets/catalogs/Orbit__Redhook_F17W18_Frontlist_Catalog_3.16.17.pdf

 

Nicholas Sansbury Smith

Nick's series has sold over a quarter million ebook copies on Amazon

 

Andrzej Sapkowski's US numbers

Over 800,000 copies of the Witcher series sold in the U.S.

 

Miles Cameron update

The Traitor Son Cycle has sold almost 100,000 copies across the series

 

James S.A. Corey update

The Expanse series has sold over 650,000 copies

 

David Dalglish update

Dalglish's self-published Shadowdance series sold nearly half a million copies worldwide. Orbit has grossed approximately 240,000 copies since publication.

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James S.A. Corey update:

The Expanse series has sold over 2 million copies in the English language, and every new hardcover sells more copies than the previous one.

 

Kevin Hearne update:

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR WITH 1.5 MILLION COPIES SOLD

 

Brian McClellan update:

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Brian McClellan's books in the Powder Mage world have over 250,000 copies in print.

 

Victoria Aveyard update:

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Red Queen has sold nearly 1 million copies, Glass Sword has sold over 500,000 copies, the Red Queen novella bind-up Cruel Crown has sold over 100,000 copies, and King’s Cage has sold over 300,000 copies since it pubbed in February 2017. The ebooks have sold well, too: Queen Song has sold over 23,000 copies and Steel Scars has sold over 15,000 copies.

 

I wonder if this is true:

http://200.hc.com/the-harpercollins-200/magician/

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Magician — the story of Pug, an orphan boy apprenticed to a master magician — has sold tens of millions of copies worldwide

 

Rothfuss' US numbers (Edelweiss entry to the 10th anniversary edition of TNotW):

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MORE THAN 1.3 MILLION net copies sold across HC, TR, MM and EL editions of The Name of the Wind

MORE THAN 2.5 MILLION net copies sold across three Kingkiller Chronicle titles

 

Sapkowski's US numbers (entry to Season of Storms):

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  • Over a million copies of the Witcher series sold to date in the U.S.
  • A Netflix Original TV series based on the novels is currently in the works. Sales for the series doubled in the weeks following the announcement.
  • Season of Storms hardcover launch will be supported by our biggest marketing promotion for the series to date.
Edited by Jussi
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1 hour ago, baxus said:

Master trolling, that one. :lol: 

More likely pedantry. The three books are The Name of the WindThe Wise Man's Fear and The Slow Regard of Silent Things.

 

Quote

 

Magician — the story of Pug, an orphan boy apprenticed to a master magician — has sold tens of millions of copies worldwide

Certainly possible. Magician has sold something like half of Feist's total number of books (which is somewhere north of 30 million now, I believe) by itself, which one of the largest discrepancies in fantasy. Book 1 selling more copies than later books is normal, but the same number of copies as twenty-eight other books in the same series combined? Insane.

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Yeah, that is bizarre if it's true.

 

Tahereh Mafi

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Her SHATTER ME trilogy has sold over a million copies

 

Diana Gabaldon update

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Diana Gabaldon’s eight-book Outlander series has sold more than 28 million copies worldwide

 

 

From Edelweiss:

 

Pierce Brown (author of Red Rising) update

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OVER 1 MILLION COPIES OF THE SERIES SOLD SO FAR.

 

Rick Riordan update

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There are currently more than 86 million Rick Riordan books in print in the US

 

Michael J. Sullivan update

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OVER 1 MILLION MICHAEL J. SULLIVAN UNITS SOLD!

 

Peter V. Brett update

has sold over two million copies

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Greg Keyes (from Edelweiss):

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Author has Bookscanned nearly 900,000 copies

 

Conn Iggulden (2016)

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has sold over seven million copies of his books globally

 

Robin Hobb

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Her latest novel sold 2.5 million copies in the UK alone

Robin Hobb's Finnish publisher claims that Hobb and GRRM are the two best-selling fantasy authors worldwide. That is probably not true, but I'd love to see Hobb's global sales numbers.

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4 hours ago, Jussi said:

Robin Hobb

Robin Hobb's Finnish publisher claims that Hobb and GRRM are the two best-selling fantasy authors worldwide. That is probably not true, but I'd love to see Hobb's global sales numbers.

Yeah, there is zero chance of Hobb selling 2.5 million copies of her latest novel in the UK alone. They must mean her entire output combined, which makes sense (and is still extremely impressive: WoT has sold about 5 million copies in the UK in total).

As for worldwide, it might be true that Hobb and Martin are the two biggest-selling contemporary living epic fantasy authors (to keep out Rowling and obviously Tolkien, Jordan, Pratchett etc) in terms of sales-per-new-book. Terry Brooks and Bob Salvatore probably have more lifetime sales (Brooks around 50 million, Salvatore around 30 million) but their sales-per-new-book have dropped a fair bit since their heyday.

For Hobb's lifetime sales, based on profile, bestseller list positions, the long tail on her books and so on, I'd say that ~30 million seems quite likely, maybe a bit more.

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From Edelweiss catalog:

 

John Gwynne

Previous series sold over 120,000 copies

"Previous series" is The Faithful and the Fallen.

 

Michael Cobley update

Orbit published Michael Cobley's first trilogy as three books in three months and has sold over 100,000 copies to date.

 

Cixin Liu update

The three-part saga, which depicts the human race's contact and conflict with an alien civilization, has sold more than 7 million copies in Chinese and about 700,000 English copies as of the end of 2017.

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