Counter Craft

Share this post

Is 5,000 a lot of books?

countercraft.substack.com

Is 5,000 a lot of books?

A quick post on book sales

Lincoln Michel
Apr 22, 2021
7
7
Share this post

Is 5,000 a lot of books?

countercraft.substack.com
Sculpture by Alicia Martin

When I attended an MFA program (a little over a decade ago [insert old man emoji]), I was told that for literary fiction you needed to sell 5,000 books to be considered a success. This didn’t mean you’d be rich of course. Didn’t mean you’d win a prize or get a TV adaptation. It probably didn’t even mean you’d get royalties. But…

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Counter Craft to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2023 Lincoln Michel
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing