Sales Figures

[Gary Kessler]

Apparently among the things you haven't research is my background, Penny, because I am clearly qualified to give the advice I gave. I'm sorry that advice didn't jell with the only answers you were listening for. Doesn't matter much, I guess, because the industry is going to do what the industry does, and you'll find out what you'll find out.

[penny lane]

Gary, what is it that you do? Are you a published author with a major house or have ever worked for one?

If you do anything related to publishing, you must know that even for major publishing houses 20,000 copies sold for a non-fiction book, over the course of a year, is a good number. So selling 1,500 over 2 weeks is a nice start.

I thought you were legit, at first, but cleary whatever you say needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

[Gary Kessler]

<http://www.editsbooks.com>
Finding Go: Matching Questions and Resources in Getting Published (with Carol Kluz)

And there's even a profile system on this Web site. All you have to do is click on the highlighted names on the thread lists (not on the individual messages; they take you to e-mail addresses).

However, it doesn't really matter if you don't like my bona fides, because it doesn't really matter if you take my advice. It would be nice, however, if you didn't make wild assumptions without doing a little research first (which seems to be your basic problem on your other issues here as well).

Good luck with finding the answers that fulfill your wishes and wants.

[penny lane]

Gary, checked out your site. Just what I suspected. I've never heard of any of the publishers you work with, so it's a bit hard for me to take your advice as all that qualified. But thanks anyway.

[Gary Kessler]

Suit yourself. Of course, if you write nonfiction and haven't heard of the publishers I work with, it just seems to go with the rest of your lack of knowledge and common sense.

[penny lane]

Gary, it's really unfortunate that you come on these boards to belittle others as a way of boosting your own self-worth. I haven't heard of your publishers, because they are small-time. Here you are writing books for some unknown publisher called "Winterwolf" and one of your books has a rank of "None" on amazon, and you are calling my sales a "a failure." That is really hilarious to me. You are either in denial or extremely jealous or just plain ignorant. Again, thanks for the "advice," but no thanks...

[Gary Kessler]

P.S. lol. It was a given you were going to come back with belittling remarks, Penny, no matter what stretch you had to take. Nonfiction publishers that include Praeger, Brookings Institution, Wadsworth, the World Bank, the Urban Institute, Cambridge University Press, University of Virginia Press, Brassey's, Continuum (UK), and Howard University Press, and you, as a nonfiction author, have heard of none of them? lol.

You're just embarrassed you got caught with your knickers down exhibiting your poor research skills and knee-jerk posts. Thanks for the laugh for the evening. Happy Landings.

[Nathan Nicholl]

I'm perplexed by the discrepancy in expectations in this thread. How can Penny, who is obviously not experienced at getting published, get $50,000 when everyone else says $1,500 is about standard?

[Gary Kessler]

Perhaps Penny is well, ummm... But that's only a possibility.

[penny lane]

Oh my gosh, Gary and Nathan -- with all due respect, you guys are pathetic. Anyone who actually settles for an advance of $1500 has a lousy agent, no negotiating skills, or signs with one of the small-time publishers Gary listed above. You guys need to get better deals, at better publishers, and then start speaking authoritatively. Wow, I'm really appreciating my deal, my agent and my publisher even more than before. Thanks!