1 Topic by Janet Taylor-Perry (edited by Janet Taylor-Perry 2017-08-11 16:59:51)

Topic: Do sales = good?

Okay. I appreciate all the sage advice on my dilemma. So, I took it all and sent a private message much in the vein of Tirzah's comment. Here is the answer, and a question besides.

First the question: Just because a book sells, does that make it a good book?

Here was my friend's response:

Hi Janet,
Thank you for coming to the book signing at the Bookshelf, and I appreciate your remarks. Fortunately, other reviewers, readers, and book sellers disagree with you. My editor, publisher, and I remain very proud of "The 5 Manners of Death" as sales continue to grow.

Best wishes to you,
Darden

For any of you who would like to peruse this book, here's a link:
https://www.amazon.com/5-Manners-Death- … s+of+death

Quote Post 1

2 Reply by Mariana Reuter (edited by Mariana Reuter 2017-08-11 17:23:38)

Re: Do sales = good?

The Hunger Games is crap, from good-literature standpoint, and it became a best-seller.  It'll hardly be praised, or even thought of, in 20 years.

Selling ≠ good.

Kiss,

Gacela

PS. Hmmm... out of 5, five-star review in Amazon for this book, one person accepts she is a personal friend of the author, and another one that she received the book in exchange of a honest review. In both cases I'd say the reviews may be biased. The rest seem to me the typical all-praise reviews friends and relations use to give to us authors as soon as our book is published, only they don't state so.

If I were the author, I would trust the judgment of somebody like you, Janet, rather than disregarding it, arguing "it's selling".

Quote Post 2

3 Reply by Sideman (edited by Sideman 2017-08-11 17:34:10)

Re: Do sales = good?

I agree with Gacela (pretty name, by the way!)

I'm a professional songwriter and musician ... made a good living at it since the 1960s. And the same is true in mujsic as it is in book writing:  sales is no judge or validation of quality. There are songs a fifth-grader could have written that went to number one and made the composer a crap load of money. As a matter of info, a #1 song in the  Country and Rock genres will typically yield the composer about $350,00.00 over the first two years (that's when it gets the most airplay and sales).

Same with books, in my opinion. there are so many excellent aspiring authors, many on this site, who can write circles around some of the big-name writers but their book sales yield less than a ransom simply because they've not had the right audience. So, sales and quality have nothing in common.

I wish the gentleman good luck.

Alan

Quote Post 3

4 Reply by cobber (edited by cobber 2017-08-11 20:59:03)

Re: Do sales = good?

I think you handled this tricky situation well.

Now, onto the real question. Do sales = good book. I'd have to say yes. Good is totally subjective. In the end, I believe the best proxy for whether something is good is whether a large number of people are willing to part with their hard earned money to be entertained by it. The Hunger Games was referenced above. Is it good? Well, for millions of kids who read  it, and for whom it was written, it was pretty damn good. It struck a chord. Writing is not just  the act of putting pretty words on a page, of painting a picture, or bringing characters to life. All of this can be done exquisitely and the book still may not have readership. The best books resonate deeply with their readers.

To me, it's like Rock and Roll. Compared to classical music R&R is almost laughably simplistic. Yet, the feelings it can evoke are just as powerful, if not more so, than Classical. So, which one is better? You can't really compare. But what you can say is R&R is more relevant for this time. Actually, rap seems to be supplanting R&R.

This is just my two cents.

Quote Post 4

Re: Do sales = good?

Do sales equal good?  Hmmm.  All time best sellers are The Bible and Atlas Shrugged.  In the '90's, the Turner Diaries sold 100,000 copies and was only not on the New York Times Best Seller List for ideological reasons (which I agree with, btw.)  I think we all know the answer to the question.  A book (or any work of art) is subjectively judged.  A best seller means that, in the sum total of individual decision making (known as the free market), enough people decided that they preferred it that it makes lists in newspapers that the sum total of decision makers decided were worth reading (e.g., The New York Times). Objectively, is a low selling book good, and a high selling book, bad?  Ask God, the World Historical Spirit, or their representatives on Earth--the Pope or Napoleon.  I only work here. lol

Quote Post 5

Re: Do sales = good?

Do sales == good? It's all subjective of course, but let me give one simple real life example which should end the discussion for most that have read the book.
"A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey sold millions of copies after exposure pm Opray's Book Club. It was later ridiculed because he presented it as a memoir when if fact it was mostly fabricated. Now I was gullible enough to obtain a copy and read a large portion before finally realizing I was never going to get to the "good" part because there wasn't any. Of course there were obviously "professionals" who gave it glowing reviews so I'm guessing they really enjoyed reading a single curse word taking up an entire page -- yes, one word on a page is what you read at times and I suppose I should have lingered over it for the amount of time it would normally take to read a whole page, but I didn't have enough sense to do that and maybe that influenced my overall perception that it was a piece of CRAP -- I would put that in other terms on a page by itself if I could master that technique here and I'm sure that would place this whole discussion on a higher plane.

Okay, as stated at the beginning, I understand that "good" is subjective, but if that piece of garbage (I'm being nice here) is "good" writing merely because it sold millions of copies, then I for one hope I never write anything "good" to be published. I'll save all the "good" stuff for my less than favorite acquaintances. My opinion, good or bad or saleable. Take care. Vern

Quote Post 6

Re: Do sales = good?

But vern--Oprah recommended it.  She also recommended Obama.  How could she be wrong?  Erm.

Quote Post 7

Re: Do sales = good?

Sideman wrote:

I agree with Gacela (pretty name, by the way!)


Alan

Oh, thanks! What are you having? The next one's on me.

Kiss

Gacela

Quote Post 8

Re: Do sales = good?

My grandfather always told me pretty girls should have pretty names. Case in point!

Quote Post 9

Re: Do sales = good?

Rachel (Rhiannon) Parsons wrote:

But vern--Oprah recommended it.  She also recommended Obama.  How could she be wrong?  Erm.

Opinions/recommendations are a marriage between the source and the subject. Sometimes the union works, but others are inherently doomed from the start. Take care. Vern

Quote Post 10

Re: Do sales = good?

Mariana Reuter wrote:

The Hunger Games is crap, from good-literature standpoint, and it became a best-seller.  It'll hardly be praised, or even thought of, in 20 years.

Selling ≠ good.

Kiss,

Gacela

PS. Hmmm... out of 5, five-star review in Amazon for this book, one person accepts she is a personal friend of the author, and another one that she received the book in exchange of a honest review. In both cases I'd say the reviews may be biased. The rest seem to me the typical all-praise reviews friends and relations use to give to us authors as soon as our book is published, only they don't state so.

If I were the author, I would trust the judgment of somebody like you, Janet, rather than disregarding it, arguing "it's selling".

Thanks. I'm a personal friend, and I think that a "friend" should be honest.

Quote Post 11

Re: Do sales = good?

In the vein of talking about padded sales--You all are aware that big publishing houses contract with booksellers with a buy-back clause. So, if Grisham's latest offering sells 500 to B & N, and they only sell 2, the the publisher buys back the 498--yet it shows as "sales."

Quote Post 12

Re: Do sales = good?

If I had to compare writing with, say, modern pop music, then it's clear to me that selling well does not necessarily mean the artist is talented/skilled.

Quote Post 13