The good people at Nielsen Bookscan provided me with the total number of poetry books bought for the last four years. Breaking down the top 20 books for each year will cost $500. Each. Pony up, if you dare!
Here are the (terrible) numbers:
Year Total Units Sold
2004 -- 3,121,630
2005 -- 3,176,000
2006 -- 3,103,000
2007 -- 2,826,000
That's right. 12 million books. Total. For FOUR years. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows sold that many books in one day.
I wonder why?
Maybe because it didn't suck and was easy to read.
We have some serious repair work to do, my friends.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Numbers Update
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3 comments:
We're working on it...
Daniel
www.DanielArenson.com
Yes, well, I understand, there is a problem with sagging poetry sales. But that given, I would not wish to sell my books to the same people that wish to read Harry Potter.
Poetry isn't intended to be a page turner.
"Maybe because it didn't suck and was easy to read.
We have some serious repair work to do, my friends."
God bless you. I published a book of poetry, and I've sold 6. Of course, I could just be a horrible poet...but I have a feeling it's a depletion of interest in poetry thanks to the trends of poetry for the past 50 years leaning towards cynical irreverence of the reader. So, we can be part of the problem or part of the solution. Or we could start beating English classes with sticks (that's my favorite).
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