Thoughts on Quarterly Royalty Statement

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ShadowstormI thought I’d post some thoughts on my quarterly WotC royalty statement, as I sometimes do.

First, I expected some significant fallout from the Borders bankruptcy, but that didn’t happen.  In fact, this was a very strong quarter for sales, the strongest in recent memory (of course, ‘strong’ here is a relative term; I’m just a midlist writer).  Next quarter might be different, however, with Borders now liquidating.

The Twilight War continues to lead in terms of sales, with the The Erevis Cale Trilogy Omnibus following, then the individual books of the Erevis Cale Trilogy.   I’m guessing that a lot of Star Wars readers are trying out the Cale stories (and here are the ten reasons why they should :-)), and that probably accounts for the continuing strength in sales.  Crossover is good!  My sincere thanks to the Star Wars readers who’ve given the Cale stories a whirl.  Likewise, my sincere thanks to my longtime Cale readers who’ve picked up my Star Wars books.  It means a lot and I appreciate it.

Ebooks continue to make up a large chunk of sales.  The Twilight War is breaking about 50-50 print to ebook, while the individual books of The Erevis Cale Trilogy break about 20-80 in favor of ebooks.   I think that’s due to two factors.  First, the trilogy has been out a long while, and the individual books aren’t commonly stocked on store shelves anymore.  If someone wants an individual book, it’s just easier to get it digitally.  Second, the Omnibus is selling well, is inexpensive (considering it’s three books), and folks who want the trilogy in print are probably just buying the Omnibus rather than searching shelves for individual books.

So that’s it.  I don’t have any sweeping conclusions to offer.  But things seem to be going along just fine, despite all the churn in the publishing world.  I’m grateful for that.

 

 

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9 thoughts on “Thoughts on Quarterly Royalty Statement”

  1. Two questions:
    1) Have you been able to rub the omnibus’ success in the bean counter’s faces? I remember when you were discussing the omnibus project with them and they were giving you some unrealistic flack for it.
    2) I have a Borders store right around the corner from me that just started closing (I went in for some deals, yayy!) and I noticed one peculiar yet sad truth: It takes a book store to close up shop to inspire people to shop there. Why is that?! That place was packed, and I visit that store like two, three times a month at least. Anyway, when Borders first started closing many of its stores several months back, could your rise in sales be attributed to that hectic time frame of everyone rushing to loot its corpse? If so, then this quarter I’d expect another strong boost in sales. Like vultures, we may need to keep an eye out for Barnes and Noble digging their grave site.

    By the way, I’ve got your Star Wars books on hand, just haven’t read them yet… sorry. I’m getting to it soon.

    • Eph,

      The Omnibus has sold many times over the number the number I was told it would sell. I don’t actually rub noses, but I’m pleased the book has done so well.

      If/when you get to the SW novels, I hope you enjoy.

      Paul

    • Anything is possible. Still don’t know the format Godborn will take, but here’s hoping. 🙂

  3. Paul,
    I’ve always been interested in star wars(but really haven’t seen the movies, so kind of lost on em), and you are one of my favorite authors, so i was just wondering if i get them will i be totally lost on the settings?

    • Adam,

      If you know what a Jedi and a Sith are, and what the Force is, you’ll be fine.

      In other news: You haven’t seen the movies? Man, how does that happen? Star Wars is everywhere! 🙂

  4. Any chance we might see some short stories (Realms related) until Godborn is released? Maybe some back stories.

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