Most publishers are tight-lipped about how many books have sold.
If a book is distributed by Ingram (which many, but not all, books are), you can call them, and an automated system will tell you how many books are in stock, how many sold this week, last week, this year, and last year. These aren't all the sales though. They won't count sales to libraries or through other distributors or books bought directly from the publisher. Still, it's a nice tool to have. Especially if your royalty checks say you've sold three copies while Ingram says 3,000.
The number to Ingram is 1-800-937-8000 extension 36803. Then put in the ISBN.
Out of sheer boredom, I just called for David Lindsey's
Face of the Assassin, the hardback.
Total in stock: 39
Sales this week: 0 (I'm calling early Sunday morning, though)
Sales last week: 2
Sales this year: 22
Sales last year: 1,942
I went ahead and called for
my own book, which came out in 2003 from a very small press.
Total in stock: 15
Sales this week: 0
Sales last week: 4
Sales this year: 57
Sales last year: 247
I get a decent amount of sales, I believe, from sources other than Ingram, but these numbers do represent a large portion.
Now let's check on the hardcover of
The DaVinci Code:
Total in stock: 5,289
Total on order: 1,824
Sales this week: 0
Sales last week: 1712
Sales this year: 13,994
Sales last year: 148,781
