Monday, November 9, 2009

How are sales?

Hey guys. What's up? I know I didn't blog last week. I wanted to, but I was performing a social experiment to see how the world would react if I went a full week without blogging. No results of interest. Yet.

The Maze Runner has been out now for about a month. First off, that's hard to believe. I spent a year and a half counting down the days till its release, and now it's passed by, several weeks. I even remember thinking sometimes that once this book was out, life would never be hard again. Tee. Hee. Humans would be idiots if they weren't so darn cute.

Anyway, almost everytime I talk to someone, they ask me how sales are. People have asked it in the comments on this very blog. People have asked me in email and on twitter. Complete strangers have asked me at signings. Lots of people want to know.

Trust me, no one on Planet Earth wants to know more than I do!

It's a very, very difficult question to answer. Now, that sounds like what someone would say if the news is bad news. No bad news here. Random House, my agent, my editor, me - we're all very pleased at how it's doing and how it's building. Each week has pretty much had more sales than the one before it. And we're just about to hit the Christmas season.

But I can't share numbers with you. Not only because my publisher would kill me, but because they wouldn't make sense. The vast majority of people don't understand how this industry works. Just because I have a ton of support and marketing from RH doesn't mean I'm selling millions and hitting all the bestseller lists.

I know I have other books out. But for all intents and purposes I'm a debut author nationwide. Hence the B&N Discovery thing. Also, my book is packed into a genre with a lot of books and readers who are currently in love with romance. And series take time to build usually. Had you heard of Harry Potter or Twilight when there was only one book out, and for just a few weeks at that? Most of you probably just answered no.

Now, having said all that, my book is doing great! All the reviews and trending point to strong word of mouth. I have zero worries, and I'm the biggest worry wart in the history of time. (Ask my mom.) So that should tell you a lot. The numbers are solid and growing. I really think that by the time Book 2 (The Scorch Trials) comes out next year, it'll debut on the NYT list. And who knows? Maybe Maze will hit it before then. We shall see.

So, there's your non-answer. How are sales? Great. Is that good enough? I hope so.

I think I can tell you this one little nugget: You can go back and see that my announced first print run was 100k. That's usually a bit of an exaggeration, but my real one was close. And I heard from a little birdie that Maze is already in its 3rd printing. So there you have it. Speculate as much as you want.....

I can honestly say that what thrills me the most is how many people seem to be enjoying it. Even those who give it somewhat negative reviews usually do so because they're ticked off that it's a trilogy and they didn't know that going in. They accuse me of milking the industry for more money. Hahahahahahahahahahaha. Not true. This was a series from almost the very first. And series are what people love in my genre.

Anyway. Thanks for visiting, and have a great day! Wednesday I'll try to answer some of the questions you guys have asked me in the comments.

Lyrics of the Day:

Don't ask me what you know is true
Don't have to tell you
I love your precious heart
I, I was standing
You were there
Two worlds collided
And they could never tear us apart

Never Tear Us Apart, INXS

25 comments:

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books said...

Hello James,

All we need now is the U.K book release,and may be come over and sign a few thousand copies.

Nice one,keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear it's going well! I'm reading it right now and totally hooked.

Erin G. said...

Hey James! Here's what I speculate from those numbers you gave us: You're going to be a rock star! :D I'm planning on giving Maze Runner to all my friends for Christmas.

So, I think you and J. Scott Savage are conspiring to not blog and drive me crazy. It's not nice of you. I had to resort to reading some of your older posts to fill the empty void in my life where you and your sarcastic comments usually reside. It was sad. But I did learn you have very weird taste in food (does toast with peanut butter dipped in tomato soup still sound appealing to you?).

Aubrey said...

Sounds good! Third printing is awesome! Go James!

Now the wait for book 2! Why oh why!

Danyelle Ferguson said...

Yeah, James! Awesomeness!!!

Nichole Giles said...

Holy cow, three print runs of that size sound pretty darn good to me. Glad to hear things are going well for you. You deserve it.

My son has designated a song to Mazerunner. (Yeah, it should be sad, but not.)

Now The dark begins to rise
Save your breath it's far from over
Leave the lost and dead behind
Now's your chance to run for cover
I don't want to change the world
I just want to leave it colder
Light the fuse and burn it up
Take the path that leads to nowhere
All is lost again, but I'm not giving in

~"I Will Not Bow" Breaking Benjamin

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

Everybody loves a series.

And it sounds like things are going wonderfully!!!! I can't hardly believe it. That is so fantastic.

By the time I get involved in a series, there's usually two or three books out. So yeah. It takes awhile to grow.

MARY IN SCOTLAND said...

We definitely need a UK release! I'm dying here!

Congrats!

Anonymous said...

Way to go! Everywhere I go, I see The Maze Runner. Even the WalMart by my house is carrying it, which is saying a lot, because it took them nearly a year to get The Hunger Games in their store.

Unknown said...

I want to take personal credit for about 5 of those sales, because I'm feeling petty and self-centered at the moment. :-)

But now back to you: props, brother. Glad to know it's doing well, and by the time we get to Death Cure, you'll be blowing the list out of the water left and right.

"You can only blame your problems on the world for so long, before it all becomes the same old song..."

The (Shipped) Gold Standard, by Fall Out Boy

Dashnog: slums. Crappy parts of town with low-income people living there. It's an original word. I made it up just now.

Jessica said...

It sounds as though everything is going great!

A countdown for The Scorch Trials - Yipee! :)

Vanessa M. said...

Well. You know you really shouldn't do that to us, not blogging. Your social experiment has not helped your status...... you just made the duders get mad at you.

Unknown said...

I agree with Vanessa. My computer was down for a week, I came back on and there were no new posts. I was confused:). I can't wait to read the book! I just need to buy it:(

James Dashner said...

Guys, as always, thanks for the comments. I love them and read them several times! I'm going to try responding more and answering questions in actual posts.

And yes, I'm very excited about the book coming out in the UK!!! Still don't know a release date, but it's definitely coming....

And so sorry about the week without blogging. haha. I feel so good that you guys missed me!

Anonymous said...

wow i just finished reading the book and it is awesome!!! i think i have to chose it as my favorite book! i don't think i can wait till The Scorch Trials! your a amazing writer so keep to it! :)

C.J. said...

James, I've been reading great reviews about The Maze Runner. I'm seriously excited for you. I'm hoping to snag a couple of copies and have them signed for gifts. Are you doing any signing up in Northern Utah before Christmas????

Carolyn V. said...

Wow, I actually found all that number stuff interesting. My copy is waiting for (school) finals to be over. Good luck with the Christmas sales! =)

Austin said...

I finished The Maze Runner! And congrats on the sales dude. Oh heres a part of my latest 18 inch novel. The chicken coop had hay still in it and that lit on fire, no surprise. I was scared but I started stamping at the ground, as my friends come running in and started joining me, we started laughing like idiots, because it wasn’t something you should laugh at. We were stamping at the ground and it wasn’t really working, and then my shoe lace caught on fire, and my friends laughed even harder. As I was jumping around trying to put out the fire, I started kicking my foot trying to get my shoe off and BAM! The thing shot off like a bullet and nailed Brandon in the groin. The fire on the ground was out by now, as Brandon fell to the floor in a lot of pain, I can imagine. Faris picked up my shoe and threw it to the wall putting out the fire.
My shoelace was toast and no longer usable, but I didn’t have to wear that cheap Sketchers crap and I got my first pair of DC’s. It’s pretty amazing how dangerous that was when we were just playing in an old chicken coop. It’s also retarded how we managed to light the thing on fire, and crazy how we put it put. Tell Me What You Guys Think. Oh I also saw Savage's Land Keep over at the Sam's Club, didn't have enough moohla, but I guess thats the reason for library's, gosh I should stop spendin all my money on books if I want an iPod Touch.

Anonymous said...

I'm way happy for you about that print run ;)
Glad to see you here again, James. I was wondering why it had been a while since you'd posted but I wondered if Twitter hadn't won you over.
My lyrics: The Fray: That's enough for now.

"Breathing comes in pairs
except for twice
one begins
and one's goodbye."

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

Ummmm, I began following your blog last week while you were on holiday/social experiment..

ronna15 said...

First of all, the lyrics are awesome Mr. Dashner! I really liked it.

Second, that's awesome that sales are going great!! I bet it would sky rocket by Christmas. I hope so. That would be the awesomest Christmas gift! I've recommended to all my goodreads.com friends to read The Maze Runner, and they've agreed to add it in their to-read list. I can't wait till read it cause I have no one to talk to about the book. :P So yeah. I'm waiting for a TMR group to apear in goodreads. I hope The Scorch Trial makes it to the debut NYT list. ;D

P.s. I need that Sorch Trials coutdown!! 329 days? Ah! So long. Oh well. Good luck!!

Blue said...

i hate delaying gratification Mr. Dashner. Hate it. So I'm quite tempted to wait till the last book in the series is out to read this one. then i can spend one delisiously memorable weekend reading book after book after book, and not feel somehow incomplete for the next four years. do you have an opinion on this?

btw, my son is currently up to his nose in Jimmy Fincher. I'm re-reading them too, just cause i lurved them.

Big Big High Five to you! When's the book signing? I hear they draw quite a crowd at King's English ;-) ♥

Taffy said...

So, I was adding authors and funny actors to my tweet (from Jaime's blog) and found all these cool tweets about Maze Runner! Very cool. So I tweeted "I know the Dashing Dude" LOL

Lula! said...

But seriously, what everyone really needs to know, and what is 2nd only to the knowledge that your book sales are growing exponentially, is that our Bulldogs WON this past weekend.

Let's get excited!

numberonedashnerfan said...

James I don't like these socail experiments! Even if I haven't really been doing my normal commenting...You didn't even post on my birthday(nov.16)....oh well im still your offical#1fan..... anywho congrats...oh and will you send me a list of publishers for first time writers.....