Sorry, I ran this data a few days ago but didn’t have time to finish the analysis. Once again it’s time to take a closer look at the Amazon’s Epic Fantasy Bestseller list for the Kindle. The data for this post was taken on 09/27/2013.
Traditional publishing continues its majority presence, but just barely (51% of the books published through that route). Self-publishing still is doing well with 40%. Small press and Amazon titles makes up very few of the overall list at 9%.
When breaking down the list via authors we find that there are 46 authors (4% less than last report 8% less than 2 reports ago) who have books on the list and self-publishing is providing the greatest number of contributors with 48%. Traditionally published authors increased to 41% from the last report.
Just like the last report, the majority of these 46 authors have only one book on the list, and the percentage of single book authors was up slightly from 54% to 57% of the authors having one book on the list.
The traditionally published authors with multiple books include:
- Robert Jordan 11 books (5:$5.99, 2:$6.99, 3:$7.58, $7.99)
- Brandon Sanderson 6 books ($2.99 (short), $4.99 (short), 2:$5.99, $7.01, $14.99, $15.55 (omni))
- George R.R. Martin 6 books (2:$5.12, $5.69, $11.99, $15.72, $31.99 (omni))
- J.R.R. Tolkien 3 books ($6.98, $7.01, $10.00)
- Michael J. Sullivan* 3 books ($7.99 (omni), $8.89 (omni), $8.89)
- Mark Lawrence 3 books (2:$5.99, $9.99)
- Justin Cronin 2 books (3.99, $7.58)
- Peter V. Brett 2 books ($4.55, $5.99)
- Scott Lynch 2 books ($0.99, $11.84)
- Terry Goodkind 2 books ($7.58, $12.74)
- Terry Pratchett 2 books (2:$5.69)
The self-published authors with multiple books include:
- Morgan Rice 5 books 4, 9, 14, 20, 55 1 (4:$2.99, $9.99 (omni))
- Michael G. Manning 4 books 39, 45, 58, 65 1 ($0.99, $2.99, 2:$4.95)
- Brian D. Anderson 4 books 11, 17, 28, 33 1 ($2.99, 3:$3.99)
- Jordan Baker 4 books 57, 68, 74, 80 1 ($0.99, 3:$2.99)
- B.T. Narro 3 books 60,72,89 1 (2: $3.99, $4.99)
- Martin Hengst 2 books 24, 29 1 (2:$2.99)
- Moira Katson 2 books 79, 85 1 ($0.99, $2.99)
- Will Wight 2 books 7, 8 1 (2:$2.99)
The traditionally published authors with 1 book include:
- Brent Weeks ($0.99 (short))
- Brian McClellan ($1.99)
- Chris Willrich ($8.69)
- Deborah Harkness ($9.99)
- Joe Abercrombie (9.99 (omni))
- R. A. Salvatore ($9.78)
- Stephen King ($7.01)
- Terry Brooks ($10.99)
The self-published authors with 1 book include:
- A.D. Trosper ($4.95)
- Andrew Hunter ($0.99)
- C. Greenwood ($2.99)
- Casey Odell ($3.99)
- David A Wells ($2.99)
- Joseph Lallo ($2.99)
- Leeland Artra ($5.99)
- Mark Cheverton ($2.99)
- Mitchell Hogan ($7.99)
- P.S. Power ($3.99)
- Terry Mancour ($4.99)
- Thomas Rath ($3.99)
- Toby Neighbors ($2.99)
- Trevor H. Cooley ($3.99)
The Amazon & small press authors with multiple books include:
- Jeff Wheeler 5 books (3:$2.99, 2:$4.99)
The Amazon & small press authors with 1 book include:
- Chris Bunch 1 book ($3.03)
- Greg Bear 1 book ($3.99)
- Robert Kroese 1 book ($1.99)
- Sherwood Smith 1 book ($4.50)
When we look at pricing. The majority of books are priced in the $4.99 – $9.99 range. But we did find downward pressure on price from the traditional sector. The average price for traditionally published books fell once more from $9.59 last two reports ago time to $7.91 this report. Self-publishing pricing, on the other hand, has increased to $3.64 up from $3.30 two reports ago. A look at the total price to purchase all books shows a decrease of 13% from $672.12 of two reports ago to $583.54.
When it comes to gender, male authors continue to dominate the bestseller list. This report showed even fewer titles by women down to 17% from 28% two reports ago.
Last report’s observations continue, in that women appear to be having more success in self-publishing than traditional. For instance:
- 5% (1 of 19 of the traditional authors are female)
- 100% (11 of 11) of the traditional authors with multiple books are male
- 12.5% (1 of 8) of traditional authors with one book are female
- 27% (6 of 22) of the self-published authors are female
- 38% (3 of 8) of self-published authors with multiple books are female
- 21% (3 of 14) of self-published authors with one book are female
* NOTE: I should put up a disclaimer that this entry refers to myself.
