An Inside Look at Book Sales and Royalties Data
Working with Dark Horse Part III: Burnout and other hiccups
Welcome back to my deep dive into my experience publishing House of Fear with Dark Horse Comics.
Part I looks at the process from the pitch through contract signing.
Part II examines the solicitation, the book's release, and marketing.
Part III covers the end of the Dark Horse deal and the final sales data, plus general thoughts on what went right and what went wrong.
This is another long one, but based on the feedback I’m receiving, these detailed posts are proving valuable to writers interested in traditional publishing (the info also helps self-publishers).
I debated whether to include the sales numbers, but as a way to help you make informed decisions and to help you set expectations, I want to be as open as possible
To help you make sense of the numbers, I first need to explain the rest of my story.
With that in mind, let’s wrap up this look at what it was like working with Dark Horse, shall we?
Signings, Conventions, and Burn Out
In February and March of 2019, I was fulfilling the Kickstarter campaign while doing interviews, sending out previews, and promoting the upcoming Dark Horse book. While I considered most of these tasks enjoyable, they were time consuming and took a lot of energy.
In May, three days after the book hit comic shops, I participated in a Free Comic Book Day signing.
At the end of May, I tabled at the Denver Pop Culture Con. There, I hosted a panel on writing kid's comics and sold a DPCC limited-edition variant cover of House of Fear: The Infestation of Mr. Skinny Legs (I started negotiating the variant cover and producing the issue back in December).
In June, I participated in a kid’s weekend at Barnes and Noble. One day, I talked to a group about how comics are made, and the next, I signed books with other writers scattered around the store.
Meanwhile, I continued to promote the book and to write new House of Fear stories. I was working 50+ hours a week at a stressful writing job with multiple high-profile deadlines and spending 15+ hours a week coaching a youth flag football team.
By the end of June, I burned out.
Hard.
I was so overwhelmed and tired, yet still so focused on my to-do list, that I had to take a break or risk my own health.
I deleted my social media apps. I stopped sending emails to readers. I pretty much stopped thinking about writing and promotion altogether.
That meant I didn't attend the San Diego Comic Con, where I missed a huge opportunity to meet with the Dark Horse editors and sign books at their booth. (I don’t have many regrets in life, but thinking back on missing that opportunity still feels like a blow.)
At the most inopportune time, after juggling too much for too long, I faded away.
Lesson:
Writers are expected to do so much these days and it can be overwhelming. Because there’s so much pressure on creators to keep doing more, more, more, we often overlook our need to slow down and take breaks. We put so much on our to-do list that we sometimes fail to relax and have a little fun, and if we’re not careful, we miss the opportunities right in front of us.
Learn to schedule downtime. Give yourself breaks. The pressure builds, but if you work in time for rejuvenation, you'll have more energy to keep after it (and likely enjoy it more, too).
Priorities help here, too. I know I was handling a lot, but damn, that trip to San Diego should’ve been my one big goal for the year. Instead, I burned out before I could truly enjoy that one big, shining moment for myself.
Halloween ComicFest
In June, Dark Horse chose to use our Attack of the Killer Snowmen story as their free comic for the 2019 Halloween ComicFest. They printed 28,000 copies of the free issue (which, even years later, is pretty damn cool to think about).
Dark Horse and other publishers provide these "free comics" to retailers at cost. The retailers in turn hand them out for free in the hopes that they'll see a spike in other sales.
The expense did not hurt back-end royalties, or so I thought. But I’ll get to that in a moment.
Lesson:
If you're aware of an event or promotion that might work well for you and your publisher, talk about it. In my third email exchange with Dark Horse after they showed interest (before I even signed a contract), I mentioned Halloween ComicFest, saying House of Fear fit well with the event. They agreed. I got lucky with the timing of it all, but I'm glad we had that initial conversation.
Royalties Statements
After the book's release, Dark Horse sent me royalty statements every quarter. Well, technically, they only sent statements when they owed money, which meant I had to ask for updated statements.
These statements were pretty simple and included three sections: Copies Sold, Sales, and Costs.
Copies Sold—the total number of books sold in both the direct and book markets.
Sales—the total dollar amount of the books sold in both markets, plus a third line for digital sales.
Costs—a list of the costs associated with publishing the book, such as printing, production and design, digital expenses, shipping, administration, and promotion.
The statement then tallied all those numbers to present the net profit (or loss), the amount of royalties paid, and the amount of royalties due.
Of the items in the Costs section, only Digital Expenses and Shipping increased through the years. All the others were one-time costs.
To give you an idea of shipping costs, we sold 132 copies of the book in early 2022, the last year the book was on sale. Shipping costs went up over $400 during that time. So while it was nice to see the book still selling slowly, costs continued to rise, too.
After reviewing one statement, I found an error in which the number of books sold went down. Unsure if that was due to returns or a clerical error, I pointed it out and later received an updated statement with the correct numbers.
Lesson:
The royalties statements are easy to read, but you’ll probably have to ask for them if you’re not earning royalties yet. Stay vigilant. Ask for them each quarter and compare each one to the previous statement. It’s disconcerting to see numbers change when there’s no clear reason for it, but when in doubt, ask.
Be warned, however, that disappointment hides in these statements. If you hope to see a boom in numbers but don’t see them, your ego might take a hit. Set your expectations realistically if you can (that gets easier once you’ve experienced the process a few times).
Also remember that your self worth isn’t tied to sales. You are not your book, and you’re definitely not your numbers. Sales come from marketing and don’t necessarily indicate the quality of a book itself, and they definitely have no say in determining who’s a “good” writer and who isn’t.
Hiccups Along the Way
Most of the topics in this 3-part retrospective are things you’ll likely experience on your own publishing journey. Here, however, are several hiccups that happened to me that I hope you can learn from even though you’re unlikely to see them specifically.
First, Covid struck in early 2020. By then, House of Fear had been on sale for seven months or so and the big Halloween push had come and gone. But while a pandemic certainly didn’t help sales—not with conventions and stores closing their doors—I can’t say specifically how much it impacted sales.
Second, I chose to print copies of The Infestation of Mr. Skinny Legs on my own instead of running a Kickstarter campaign. Running a campaign in the summer of 2019 would have kept the Dark Horse book in front of readers by offering signed copies in the campaign.
Third, in early 2021, I discovered how to connect with libraries and started to promote myself as being available for virtual classroom sessions to explain to kids how comics are made. I did this plenty of times in person before the pandemic, but it took me awhile to consider going virtual.
Here’s the problem I discovered: The first library to accept my offer for virtual classrooms wanted to buy 15 copies, but when they tried to order, the ordering system said the book was out of stock.
As you can tell from the numbers below, copies were indeed still available. How long did the ordering system show the book as being out of stock? I have no way of knowing, but I can’t help but wonder how badly it hurt sales.
The last hiccup had to do with the Free Comic Book Day release. Remember how I mentioned I thought it didn’t impact back-end royalties? Well, it did. When they announced they were doing the free issue, I had no idea that the printing and promotion costs would land on my royalties statements as an expense.
Looking back, it’s obvious. The free comic was essentially marketing the trade paperback, and marketing is an expense, so of course it would be a subtraction on my statements. But a Dark Horse oversight meant it wasn’t included in my statements for a couple of years. So I watched the numbers inch closer to a day we’d split profits, when boom, suddenly it wasn’t as close as I thought.
Lesson:
Some things are in your control and some things aren't. Focus on what you can control and do your best to keep things moving. My biggest suggestion is to keep making comics, novels, and short stories. The best way to promote one book is to write another. So keep publishing. Keep learning from your mistakes. Keep improving. You’ll eventually have a chance to do it all again.
The key is to develop a growth mindset. Hardships and struggles are inevitable. But when they knock you down, get up and find ways to learn from the experience. That’s not always easy, but it beats giving up just because something didn’t go your way.
Volume 2 and One Final Problem
Despite low sales, Dark Horse remained interested in volume 2. We kept creating House of Fear comics and Dark Horse seemed to genuinely like the material I shared with them. But after postponing the decision multiple times as they settled into the post-Covid world, they finally turned it down.
I asked for my rights back to everything in the first volume, and within a week I had signed the contract to terminate our agreement.
Not long after, I ran a Kickstarter campaign for our own volume 2. There, I sold copies of volume 1 and discovered that much of my own stock had been damaged. (The books were boxed before the covers completely dried, so the back cover of one stuck to the front cover of the next.)
Soon after my discovery, I learned that all remaining copies in the Random House warehouse were damaged too.
They pulped all remaining copies. (Yes, that still hurts to think about.)
As far as I know, the 50 or so slightly damaged copies I have left are the last of the Dark Horse House of Fear books, although I'm sure copies still line bookstore shelves out there somewhere.
When I got my rights back, the first thing I did was shop the series around to agents and comic publishers. A few agents and several publishers were interested enough to read samples and to start discussions, but eventually, the interest faded (the publishers’ interest and my own).
One publisher loved the series but needed to sell single issues. Unfortunately, the House of Fear stories vary in length, from 12 to 40 pages each. Without a consistent page count, the publisher didn’t know what to do with the series.
Quick note: when I pitched the series to IDW, they responded that they weren’t interested because Dark Horse published the first volume. I doubt they even looked at my pitch package.
Lesson:
Like I mentioned in the last section, keep writing. Keep creating. Volume 2 of House of Fear is just as good if not better than the first, and those stories wouldn’t exist if I stopped making them just because Dark Horse lost interest.
Part of me wants to instill in other writers that it's important to follow the norm. Had all of my stories been 22 pages, there's a strong chance a smaller publisher would've picked up the series after Dark Horse. However, I never saw House of Fear as a monthly series, and I still feel that stories should be as long as they need to be to give the readers an engaging, complete, satisfying read.
So either write with an outcome in mind, or write for yourself and deal with the consequences later. Just know what you’re doing and set your expectations accordingly. If you want to write a random, 33-page story in a horizontal format, great, make it happen. But don’t expect strong interest from publishers who only publish 22-page single issues.
House of Fear Sales Data
So, how did House of Fear do? Let's take a look at a snapshot from four different dates after the book went on sale. The numbers here are cumulative totals sold, not how many sold each year.
Book Market (total books sold to date):
September 2019: 1,112
December 2020: 866*
December 2021: 963
December 2022: 996
Direct Market (total books sold to date):
September 2019: 356
December 2020: 410
December 2021: 464
December 2022: 563
*I believe bookstores returned copies of the book, which explains the dip in sales.
I did see slight upticks each time I did some sort of Halloween promotion with libraries, Facebook ads, etc., but overall, it's hard to make too big of a splash by yourself after that initial wave, which reemphasizes the importance of early buzz.
Altogether, we sold 1559 copies as of December 2022, which means 1919 copies remained when the books were destroyed. (Well, technically closer to 1600+ since the creative team received copies.)
Lesson:
Numbers don’t lie. Your book either sells well or it doesn’t. We sold just a smidge under half of the print run.
With that said, however, I did see those small upticks when I managed to make a push with ads or when I ran promotions, even a couple of years after release. This tells me that ads and promotions work. Sure, they might be small increases, but if I had improved my marketing game, and if I had done so earlier rather than later, maybe I could’ve seen more substantial growth.
If I were to land a publisher today, I’d find someone to run marketing campaigns for me. Promotion is not something I excel at, but with the right partner, I think it would help a good deal.
How Much Did I Earn?
As I mentioned in the intro, I considered not sharing this info or hiding it behind a paywall, but I want to shine more light on the realities we face as writers and artists. And while you won’t experience the same hiccups I did, I hope you can learn from my experiences and possibly update your expectations.
I earned under $400 from Dark Horse royalty payments.
No, that’s not a typo.
I made that money prior to Dark Horse learning of their clerical error when they didn’t include the costs associated with the HalloweenFest issue. So I began earning royalties, then saw a huge expense added to my statements, which set me back again.
By the end of it all, we needed to sell another ten copies for me to start earning royalties again.
Quick math lesson: Cover price of the book was $12.99. If Dark Horse/Random House sold the book to bookstores with a 40% discount, Dark Horse would earn about $8. But with shipping fees, let’s round down to $7 per book. With our 50/50 split, I’d earn $3.50 per sale.
If we had sold through the entire print run, my best guess is that I would’ve earned about $6000 from Dark Horse royalties (including digital sales). You can add another $2000+ selling my personal copies through Kickstarter or conventions.
Had the book not been pulped, there was a chance we eventually sold through the print run. And if we had sold through at a faster pace, then maybe they would’ve signed on for book 2.
One thing to note is the shipping fees that continue to accrue. Selling books one at a time years after release day isn’t as lucrative than shipping multiple copies to stores. So this is another reason why promoting the book early is important for sales and royalties.
Lesson:
Being published might not be the big payday you hope it is. Instead, it’s more like a stepping stone. The second book feeds more sales back into the first book, then the third does the same for both previous books (the same can be said for self-publishing). Meanwhile, you’re learning and improving as you go, and you have other avenues you’re following. Being published is just one piece of the puzzle.
Don’t go in thinking your job is done. Instead of seeing your new publishing contract as a way to get rich, see it more as something that opens up new opportunities. It didn’t work out that way for me, but it could be a start of something big for you.
On the flip side, don’t let these numbers suggest that traditional publishing isn’t worth it. There are more factors at play than just final numbers (a topic I can get into later if there’s any interest).
Was House of Fear a Success or Failure?
As I wrote this retrospective, I kept asking myself if I consider House of Fear a success.
Plenty of people would look at my numbers and immediately say the book was a failure. It didn’t sell that well and it wasn’t a springboard to bigger and better things for me as a writer, either.
Despite that, hell yeah I consider it a success!
I set out to write a single B&W comic for my son and later developed that into over 300 pages of exciting stories, half of which were published by a fairly large publisher who also printed 28,000 copies of one of the comics.
I’ve met 100s of other creators and fans, and I spoke at classrooms for years, all because of these stories, so you better believe that’s a success in my book.
I had two separate parents tell me their son and daughter wasn’t interested in reading until they read House of Fear. The kids liked the series so much, they started reading other comics, and from there, they started reading chapter books.
So hell yeah it was a success!
I suppose it all depends on perspective. I could get down on “only” selling 1600 copies. I could focus on my blunders. I can sit here and second-guess the entire process or play the blame game.
Instead, I keep falling back on one thing:
I had a blast creating something I’m crazy proud of, and then I shared it with others, many of whom said they enjoyed it.
At the end of the day, that’s all that matters.
One Final Lesson:
Surround yourself with those who support and energize you to create.
Share your love of writing and art and storytelling.
And then keep making art. Keep writing. Keep making comics or novels or short stories or movies. Tell the stories only you can tell. Tell the stories that light you up, the ones that you’ll be proud of just for finishing.
In the end, that’s all you can do.
You’re a writer, so write.
And publish.
And do it again.
Okay, that wraps up my deep dive into what it was like to work with Dark Horse Comics. I hope sharing my experiences helps you as you navigate your own course.
If you have questions about any of this specifically or only peripherally, let me know. I’m a professional editor and writer who loves helping others navigate the entire process, so hit me up and I’ll help where I can.
Good luck on your creative journey!
If you missed the other posts in this series:
Thank you for sharing this!
Read all 3 parts, thank you for this awesome and honest info