tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post4711393418585381839..comments2024-03-22T19:07:21.790+00:00Comments on The Wertzone: The New and Improved SFF All-Time Sales ListAdam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-13575307583809629492017-07-22T21:04:39.742+00:002017-07-22T21:04:39.742+00:00Butcher was on there.Butcher was on there.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-51270429851170707392015-11-10T01:31:35.975+00:002015-11-10T01:31:35.975+00:00I'm not going to lie. I could use some links f...I'm not going to lie. I could use some links for SEO purposes. On the bright side, you'll be saving countless souls from months if not years of torment and poverty.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-54586051558503369952015-09-10T16:07:40.997+00:002015-09-10T16:07:40.997+00:00A few more folks I don't see mention - hope I&...A few more folks I don't see mention - hope I'm not just missing them :<br /><br />Spider Robinson - somewhere in the "few-several hundred thousand" range in total, guess-trapolating from comments in http://www.locusmag.com/1997/News/News10.html<br /><br />Ben Bova - ?<br /><br />And at least to mention on the "lack of data" section<br /><br />E.E."Doc" Smith<br />Jules Verne<br />George MacDonald<br /><br />Cheers, and once again thanks for the time & effort which has gone into this list !<br />Peter StewartAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12144210210812523094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-62117980155637331072015-03-18T19:55:20.107+00:002015-03-18T19:55:20.107+00:00I'm surprised at how many names on the list we...I'm surprised at how many names on the list were apparently missed y commentators here.Ross Chamberlainhttp://rossworx.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-10503060797024680972015-03-18T19:53:00.813+00:002015-03-18T19:53:00.813+00:00I was delighted to see "Jean M. Auel has sold...<br />I was delighted to see "Jean M. Auel has sold over 45 million copies of her Earth's Children sequence. Though written as speculative history, some have categorised the books as alternate history and thus borderline SF."<br />... but speculative/fantasy elements of the series are much stronger than suggested here, specifically the mental structure of the Neanderthals (never so called) which gives them detailed racial memory, and the effects of a kind of psychoactive drug that allows 'accurate' prophetic visions, possibly behind the racial memory but also used among the Cro Magnon (also not used) shamans. In other words, I would argue that this places Auel's series squarely in the genre (with her heroine, Ayla, approaching superhero status).Ross Chamberlainhttp://rossworx.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-55364534921818924312014-10-19T12:03:53.502+00:002014-10-19T12:03:53.502+00:00Fantastic resource! Kudos to the writer.
Fantasy,...Fantastic resource! Kudos to the writer.<br /><br />Fantasy, Sci-fi and Horror fans are some of the smartest, most devoted and organized guys and girls out there.<br /><br />I only wish fans of the crime and romance genres could organize such author lists too.<br /><br />Great job!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-55036931194789999882014-10-12T15:04:34.664+00:002014-10-12T15:04:34.664+00:00CLIVE BARKER?
Maybe I missed him on the list, but...CLIVE BARKER?<br /><br />Maybe I missed him on the list, but if not, he should definitely be on here. Guy's a millionaire many times over.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-15200346820917019652014-08-22T14:25:12.169+00:002014-08-22T14:25:12.169+00:00My ARC of Fool's Assassin says that Assassin&#...My ARC of Fool's Assassin says that Assassin's apprentice has sold over 1 million copies in the UK.<br /><br />So that's more than a million for Hobb for one book in one country... <br /><br />But by your (reasonable) rules that still means you should have her on 1+ million!Mark Lawrencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16877925828353073272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-38222724300298170662013-12-07T12:48:39.268+00:002013-12-07T12:48:39.268+00:00Speaking of German authors, Wolfgang Hohlbein is s...Speaking of German authors, Wolfgang Hohlbein is said to have sold over 43 million of his 200+ books despite having almost none of his works translated in English (see http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/leute/wolfgang-hohlbein-fantasy-autor-dreht-neue-folgen-fuer-rtl-ii-soap-a-899857.html for the claimed sales figure).<br /><br />I also suspect that some of the more regular early authors of sci-fi pulp series Perry Rhodan would have to figure on this list. Gwaendarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11736940983104193253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-41570769121826334442013-11-25T06:55:16.011+00:002013-11-25T06:55:16.011+00:00Ah, you have Stephenson's numbers up there alr...Ah, you have Stephenson's numbers up there already. My bad. I seem to recall you saying somewhere that you couldn't find any info on his sales figures. <br /><br />Great work btw, Wert.Jack Tripperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05033020329763413508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-27562360568243909522013-11-25T04:06:16.963+00:002013-11-25T04:06:16.963+00:00Hey wert, I found a little bit of info on Neal Ste...Hey wert, I found a little bit of info on Neal Stephenson's sales. From Wikipedia: "Based on the success of Cryptonomicon, a New York Times bestseller with sales of about 300,000 copies, the initial print-run for Quicksilver was 250,000 copies." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quicksilver_(novel) <br /><br />Can't find any info on his other novels, alas.Jack Tripperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05033020329763413508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-69227233753862756372013-10-04T23:01:41.764+00:002013-10-04T23:01:41.764+00:00OK, now this has gone from 'thanks for putting...OK, now this has gone from 'thanks for putting that all together in one place for us' to 'seriously great work!'.<br /><br />Good to see proper figures for McCaffrey - that was one of the most egregious issues before. Interesting to see Christie Golden do so well as well (ah, Vampire of the Mists...)<br /><br />Fantastic to see the figure for Burroughs, too - I'd have thought him too long ago to have proper figures for. <br /><br />One author, slightly less old, who ought to be here, is TH White. I don't know how many copies "The Once and Future King" has sold (or just "The Sword in the Stone"), but it must surely be in the millions.<br /><br />Going back a bit further, two obvious names suggest themselves also. H Rider Haggard's 'lost world' books aren't normally thought of as fantasy, but many of them are. The eponymous "She", for instance, is immortal, can read minds, can heal wounds with magic, and can possibly resurrect the dead. "She" had already sold 83 million copies by 1965.<br />And then there's Kipling. Fair enough not to include the Just-So Stories, I suppose, as they're more just children's fables, but I think that the Jungle Book should probably count as fantasy. No idea how many copies sold, other than "a lot".<br /><br />Of the authors on your list, I think the most obvious soft number remaining is Asimov, which really must be far, far bigger than that.<br />Wastrelhttp://vacuouswastrel.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-32542613209120467632013-09-13T06:32:37.565+00:002013-09-13T06:32:37.565+00:00Where's Tad Williams? According to http://www....Where's Tad Williams? According to http://www.examiner.com/article/exclusive-art-released-from-upcoming-tailchaser-s-song-animated-adaptaion he's sold 17 million books.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-85846944793477118542013-09-08T20:52:03.330+00:002013-09-08T20:52:03.330+00:00I fear I've lead you astray: Samuel Delany has...I fear I've lead you astray: Samuel Delany has no 'e', though I always forget to omit it.<br /><br /><br />Regarding McCaffrey, a little context might help. Those 500,000 in collaborations come from five late Pern books, so 100k each. There are 17 Anne-only Pern books. And I count 51 other SFF books, and 10 romance or children's books. That's not counting non-fiction. So let's assume at a minimum that the famous, bestselling Pern books sold as much, when Pern was big (and over the three decades since), as her final collaborations with her son did. That's 1.7 million copies; now let's assume half that for each of the other SFF books. That's about 2.5 million. Add in the Todd books and top up, and that's around 5 million all told. And even that's incredibly conservative - not just because some of those Pern novels clearly sold a lot more, but also because quite a few of even her less famous novels were top-10 bestsellers back in the eighties. Wastrelhttp://vacuouswastrel.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-69322824407487004722013-09-05T06:06:54.283+00:002013-09-05T06:06:54.283+00:00I miss Stephen Baxter on this list! I miss Stephen Baxter on this list! Veronikahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04235001581917210962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-55271642229177599632013-09-03T09:33:27.574+00:002013-09-03T09:33:27.574+00:00Feels weird that Erikson isn’t higher. When it com...Feels weird that Erikson isn’t higher. When it comes to world building, interesting races, great battles and memorable characters, he is number one in my book. Hopefully he will become more popular in timeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-83604298537544062552013-09-01T13:34:11.216+00:002013-09-01T13:34:11.216+00:00William Gibson? Neal Stephenson? Kurt Vonnegut? Al...William Gibson? Neal Stephenson? Kurt Vonnegut? Also curious, going back in time, how Mervyn Peake or H.G. Wells would stack up. Thanks for your work on the list. noomninamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08838639533104476843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-41639159770542449532013-09-01T11:09:26.120+00:002013-09-01T11:09:26.120+00:00Another German: Frank Schätzing has only written t...Another German: Frank Schätzing has only written two SF novels ("Der Schwarm" and "Limit"), but those two have sold more than 4 million copies. A figure of 3.8 million German copies is quoted everywhere for Der Schwarm; 4 million is quoted on his publisher's site for worldwide. Limit had a first print run of 400,000.TerokNornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-14875343701808775962013-09-01T09:29:58.546+00:002013-09-01T09:29:58.546+00:00More: German SF pioneer Hans Dominik had two milli...More: German SF pioneer Hans Dominik had two million copies of his SF books in print by 1944: hansdominik.de has detailed statistics; the SF Encyclopedia says "several million".TerokNornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-19367304201566101532013-08-30T17:49:38.550+00:002013-08-30T17:49:38.550+00:00Just to jump on the bandwagon of suggestions...
H...Just to jump on the bandwagon of suggestions...<br /><br />How about Delaney? I know he's normally thought of a a fairly recondite writer, but Dhalgren was actually a major commercial success. The figure of slightly over a million copies float around the internet, though wikipedia specifies that this is just for the original Bantam editions (19 printings), so that doesn't count the hardback and the subsequent three editions - the latest of which has gone through seven printings itself.<br /><br />Over on Fred Pohl's blog, at http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2011/01/chip-delany-part-2-the-miracle-of-dhalgren/, he talks about publishing Dhalgren - he doesn't give numbers, other than calling it a 'runaway success', but in the comments Delaney himself discusses his Neveryon books - he says the first three each had two or three printings, and specifies that the third sold 100k in two printings (85k in the first and then a second printing of 15k (though I guess some of the second printing may not have been sold), and then goes on to say that the fourth book did just as well as the first three.<br /><br />'Nova' was also pretty succesful, eventually going through fourteen printings at Bantam, selling to them for 'a record advance' after the doubleday publication. <br /><br />Anyway, between everything (and he's written a bunch of other stuff too), I'd say he's certainly sold over a million and probably sold over two.<br /><br />Also, he seems the sort of person who'd have the numbers and be willing to share them if you asked...?Wastrelhttp://vacuouswastrel.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-40386623204055487262013-08-30T14:17:01.764+00:002013-08-30T14:17:01.764+00:00Regarding Butcher: My guess is he's above 10 m...Regarding Butcher: My guess is he's above 10 million. If I lookup just bookscan (bookscan only accounts for 65% - 75% of print sales) he's over 4.5 Million. Ebooks on many speculative fiction writers is 50% (mine is 58% Sanderson has reported 66%). Michael J. Sullivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-23873966185057368932013-08-30T14:11:46.972+00:002013-08-30T14:11:46.972+00:00Thanks for including me on the list. My goal is t...Thanks for including me on the list. My goal is to hit 1,000,000 at some point I'm almost 1/3 of the way there in English sales. Nearly impossible to get accurate timely numbers on the translated copies, but my guess is it's significantly less than the English. Michael J. Sullivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06892162383465544899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-73286840996178029572013-08-30T11:41:20.419+00:002013-08-30T11:41:20.419+00:00From the NY Times.
"In Mr. Bradbury’s lifeti...From the NY Times.<br /><br />"In Mr. Bradbury’s lifetime more than eight million copies of his books were sold in 36 languages."<br /><br />http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/ray_bradbury/index.htmlJamesKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754684505807515064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-36450401132979836602013-08-30T02:11:31.872+00:002013-08-30T02:11:31.872+00:00Wert, any figures available for Daniel Abraham/Jam...Wert, any figures available for Daniel Abraham/James SA Corey?<br /><br />-FrodostarkAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-34297496325042063242013-08-30T01:17:38.735+00:002013-08-30T01:17:38.735+00:00Where is Ray Bradbury?
His books are still on scho...Where is Ray Bradbury?<br />His books are still on school reading lists. I'm sure he must have sold in the millions.JamesKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754684505807515064noreply@blogger.com