The SFF All-Time Sales List

[Jussi]

Ernest Cline

Ready Player One sold 60,000 hardcovers, 100,000 ebooks, and has 120,000 paperbacks in print, and it continues to sell thousands of copies a month.

I found higher numbers for GRRM: 28+ million copies.

There are almost 22 million copies of A Song of Ice and Fire in print, plus over 6 million in eBook sales—and growing daily!

[sperry]

It says a lot about our culture nowadays imo when Stephaine Meyer is number 5. I personally havent read Twilight and have no desire to, but from what ive heard its written on a fifth grade reading level. Tolkien will stay in the top 3 for the forseeable future i dont see his books declining in demand at all. Stephen King may be second on the list but from what ive heard of his he writes to pay the bills, not neccessarily make great stories. Quality is always better than quantity. Do you think that Martin will ever be able to crack the top 10? Hes got a ways to go, but his sales are probably only going to keep going up.

The fifth grade reading level helps, not hurts, sales if people like the stories. There are a lot of people incapable or uninterested in reading something as dense as the 1,000 page epic fantasies that are popular around here.

Martin will have a hard time cracking the top 10. He's not a prolific enough writer, and the YA megahits just sell so many more copies. Tenth place is at 50 million right now, and Suzanne Collins is at that number now, with her sales likely to continue to skyrocket with three more Hunger Games movies coming out over the next couple years.

[Werthead]

Martin will have a hard time cracking the top 10.

I'm not so sure. He's gone from an estimated (and, at the time, rather optimistic) 5-7 million in 2008 to 28 million just four years later, and the books are still in the bestseller lists and seem to get a renewed boost every March when a new season of the TV show starts. That will definitely start slackening off at some point, but if it keeps up for another three years or so he should scrape the Top Ten.

[sperry]

I'm not so sure. He's gone from an estimated (and, at the time, rather optimistic) 5-7 million in 2008 to 28 million just four years later, and the books are still in the bestseller lists and seem to get a renewed boost every March when a new season of the TV show starts. That will definitely start slackening off at some point, but if it keeps up for another three years or so he should scrape the Top Ten.

That's still "just" 5 million per year, with the 10th place writer 20+ million ahead of him and likely selling at a greater rate. Not sure what kind of rate Pratchett and Jordan are selling at (also do the last three WoT count for Jordan or Sanderson?), but even though their sales are likely significantly slower than Martin's, they've got a decade plus lead at Martin's current sales rate. Maybe he'll strike while the iron's hot and get Words and Dream out during the HBO show's run to try to secure the top 10 (heh).

[Jussi]

In particular there's NO WAY Trudi Canavan has sold that few. No way.

She has sold two million copies.

With 2 million copies sold worldwide, Trudi Canavan is one of the most successful fantasy authors of recent years.

Here are the numbers for Ian Irvine.

There have been over one million copies sold worldwide of Ian Irvine's novels.

[Jiriki]

Tad Williams isn't on that list at all, but according to the Tailchaser's Song press release, he's sold more than 17 million books.

[SeanF]

I'm not so sure. He's gone from an estimated (and, at the time, rather optimistic) 5-7 million in 2008 to 28 million just four years later, and the books are still in the bestseller lists and seem to get a renewed boost every March when a new season of the TV show starts. That will definitely start slackening off at some point, but if it keeps up for another three years or so he should scrape the Top Ten.

Do we have any idea of sales of non-ASOIAF books by Martin.

[Jussi]

And Gail Z. Martin as well, though I haven't found hard figures for her yet. There's a figure of 100,000, but that doesn't seem reliable given her apparent level of success.

Edelweiss says 180,000 copies.

Gail Z. Martin's first series, Chronicles of the Necromancer, has sold over 180,000 copies to date.

Ed Greenwood's books have sold "millions of copies". He told in an interview:

I've had two (brief) New York Times bestsellers, write only in English but have been published in something upwards of 30 languages worldwide, and have one novel, SPELLFIRE, that's sold close to a million copies (over 23 years, mind you).

[Jussi]

J.V. Jones, for example, sells very well (her opening trilogy was an instant NYT bestseller hit) and would likely be reasonably high on the list, maybe around the 1 million mark, but I can find no hard figures to support that.

In 1999 she had sold 250,000 books.

Insecurity? From someone who's sold a quarter of a million books all over the world? Why?

I believe Charlaine Harris should be higher on the list.

By the end of 2012, global sales for Charlaine had surpassed 30 million copies.

Chris Bunch

Bunch was probably best known for "Sten" - the landmark, eight volume science fiction series, which he wrote with former collaborator Allan Cole. The series was a world wide-wide hit, especially in Russia, where it sold more than ten million copies and was on the Moscow best-seller list for two years.

Robert E. Howard

The Conan paperback series sold about 10 million copies in a few short years.

Richard A. Knaak

Richard A. Knaak's novels, including the New York Times bestseller The Legend of Huma, and his DragonRealm series, have sold well over a million copies in several languages.

[SeanF]

I don't know if James Herbert counts as fantasy. If so, his sales would run into many millions.

[Werthead]

Updating, thanks everyone. James Herbert sold more than 54 million books, putting him (just) on the Top Ten.

Do we have any idea of sales of non-ASOIAF books by Martin.

The first Wild Cards book sold well over 100,000 copies in its first year or so on sale. On that basis, I would conservatively put Wild Cards sales at around 1 million, and possibly a bit more. Probably not hugely more than that though (most of the books were out of print for a long time).

For his non-ASoIaF books, I understand that Dreamsongs and Fevre Dream have sold extremely well, with little or no information available for the rest.

[Jussi]

Katherine Kerr

Katharine Kerr, author of the Deverry books, is one of the most commercially successful names in fantasy and SF, with over one million copies sold in UK editions.

Katherine Kurtz

Katherine is probably best known for the Deryni cycle, which has sold well over 2 million copies.

Stephen Lawhead

The author of over 14 books and with sales of over 2 million copies worldwide, STEPHEN LAWHEAD has become one of the top fantasy writers of the 1990s and 2000s.

Morgan Llywelyn writes historical fantasy and mainstream historical fiction.

Her fiction has received several awards and has sold more than 40 million copies

[SeanF]

Denis Wheatley was probably the world's best-selling author in the Sixties, although he wrote lots of historical thrillers as well as his occult books.

The Exorcist, by Wiiliam Blatty, must have sold 10m +.

[Jussi]

Scott Westerfeld, author of the space opera The Risen Empire.

The Uglies series has more than 3 million books in print

Dave Duncan

Over one million of his books have been sold in over a dozen countries.

This is an old figure from 1999.

[Jussi]

Melanie Rawn (1998)

1.8 million copies of Melanie Rawn's DAW books in print!

The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny (2002)

over 3 1/2 million copies worldwide

[Sci-2]

How Much Do Fantasy Authors Earn?

How much can fantasy authors expect to earn when they publish books? Few writers actually share their earnings, but it can be enormously helpful for aspiring authors.

On Reddit, traditionally published fantasy author Paul S. Kemp and self-published fantasy author Michael J. Sullivan pulled back the curtain on their yearly earnings.

[lysmonger]

where is rothfuss on there?

[Darth Richard]

where is rothfuss on there?

Or for fucks sake, read the fucking first post.

[Jussi]

Daniel H. Wilson

Robopocalypse has netted over 160,000 copies and became a part of the dialogue in the summer of 2011.

Robert Rankin

He is the author of more than thirty novels, of which he has sold millions of copies

Maggie Stiefvater

Her books have been translated into 34 languages, and to date have sold over 2 million copies worldwide.

Veronica Roth

To date, book sales are now over 4 million copies for both novels combined

Susan Cooper

Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising sequence has sold more than two million copies in hardcover and paperback.

Diana Wynne Jones

Her books have been translated into more than 20 languages and have sold more than a million copies in the UK and 10m copies worldwide.

[Jussi]

I found some figures for Iain M. Banks:

1.1 million copies of Banks's sci-fi novels have been sold, and the previous one, "Surface Detail", sold 100,000 copies.

http://www.guardianb...N=9780356501505

“The Wasp Factory” has sold more than a million copies worldwide.

http://www.nytimes.c...at-59.html?_r=0

and Gregory Benford:

I’ve had books sell over a million copies, and books that have been published in over a dozen languages, and a lot of books still in print, and that’s great.

http://www.gregorybe...ity-of-arizona/

TIMESCAPE

At least it’s the most popular, with millions of sales.

No one was more surprised than I was when TIMESCAPE passed the million copy mark in sales, quite a while ago.

http://www.gregorybe...books/my-faves/

Gordon R. Dickson

Over two million copies of his books have been sold.

Robert McCammon

There are now over 5 million copies of his books in print

Vonda N. McIntyre

There are more than four million copies of McIntyre's books in print.

Robert Asprin

Myth Conceptions is the rollicking second volume of the best-selling Myth series that has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide.