For more than a decade, I worked at a mid-size commercial publisher in the heart of midwestern America. We mainly published how-to books for enthusiast audiences, the sort of books that would sell in the four or five figures in their first year, then backlist and keep selling for many years. The goal wasn’t to hit a bestseller list (most books about knitting or woodworking are not bestseller material), but to produce modest wins and maybe occasionally enjoy a big breakout. (For this publisher, the biggest breakout of all time was The Art of Painting Animals on Rocks, a series that sold more than 1 million copies over its lifetime.)
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About our columnist
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career in the book publishing industry, with a focus on author education and trend reporting. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals. Her latest book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (University of Chicago Press), received a starred review from Library Journal. In addition to serving on grant panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Creative Work Fund, she works with numerous organizations to bring transparency to the business of publishing. Learn more at JaneFriedman.com.