Werthead Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 (edited) 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 December 16, 2018 by Werthead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peadar Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 14 hours ago, Werthead said: Will try to get it up tomorrow. "Trying" is often part of the problem. Just relax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted December 24, 2016 Author Share Posted December 24, 2016 (edited) That's the same figure as a decade ago. Huh. Also, updated list linked in the OP. Edited December 24, 2016 by Werthead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Posted December 25, 2016 Share Posted December 25, 2016 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! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AncalagonTheBlack Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Nice work Wert and thanks for the shout-out here and on your blog as well!! I will keep an eye out for any new sales numbers that i come across in future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 Kristin Cashore update author of the million-selling "Graceling Realm" fantasy series Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 The Legend of the Ice People by Margit Sandemo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_the_Ice_People The first volume was released 1982, and the series became one of the best-selling series of novels in Scandinavia, with more than 39 million copies sold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted March 19, 2017 Author Share Posted March 19, 2017 Quote The sequel to 'The Left Hand Of God', which sold over 20,000 copies Huh. I guess some survived The Purge. * grabs flamethrower and heads out * Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Rick Yancey update The 5th Wave series has sold to date over 3.6 million copies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 Leigh Bardugo With over one million copies sold J. K. Rowling update the seven books have sold 500 million copies worldwide Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 If you cut it off at 200, then the entry point is 1.5M books solds (!!!). That just cuts off a lot of big names, like Iain Banks, Dan Simmons, Naomi Novik... Would it make more sense to use a # books sold limit, say 1 million? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 (edited) 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: Quote NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR WITH 1.5 MILLION COPIES SOLD Brian McClellan update: Quote Brian McClellan's books in the Powder Mage world have over 250,000 copies in print. Victoria Aveyard update: Quote 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/ Quote 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): Quote MORE THAN 1.3 MILLION net copies sold across HC, TR, MM and EL editions of The Name of the WindMORE THAN 2.5 MILLION net copies sold across three Kingkiller Chronicle titles Sapkowski's US numbers (entry to Season of Storms): Quote 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 December 17, 2017 by Jussi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baxus Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 MORE THAN 2.5 MILLION net copies sold across three Kingkiller Chronicle titles Master trolling, that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted December 17, 2017 Author Share Posted December 17, 2017 1 hour ago, baxus said: Master trolling, that one. More likely pedantry. The three books are The Name of the Wind, The 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 (edited) Yeah, that is bizarre if it's true. Tahereh Mafi Quote Her SHATTER ME trilogy has sold over a million copies Diana Gabaldon update Quote Diana Gabaldon’s eight-book Outlander series has sold more than 28 million copies worldwide From Edelweiss: Pierce Brown (author of Red Rising) update Quote OVER 1 MILLION COPIES OF THE SERIES SOLD SO FAR. Rick Riordan update Quote There are currently more than 86 million Rick Riordan books in print in the US Michael J. Sullivan update Quote OVER 1 MILLION MICHAEL J. SULLIVAN UNITS SOLD! Peter V. Brett update has sold over two million copies Edited December 18, 2017 by Jussi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 (edited) Greg Keyes (from Edelweiss): Quote Author has Bookscanned nearly 900,000 copies Conn Iggulden (2016) Quote has sold over seven million copies of his books globally Robin Hobb Quote 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. Edited March 2, 2018 by Jussi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted March 3, 2018 Author Share Posted March 3, 2018 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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