Why Books Don’t Sell

And how to think about writing a book in an era of dismal sales figures for serious non-fiction

Sigh. I’m going to level with you, dear reader: my toxic trait is checking newly released books’ rankings on Amazon. I do so with hope in my heart: that this terrific new book, which sometimes bears my blurb on the cover, will take off and find the readership it sorely deserves. Time after time after time, I wind up disappointed: serious, important books are not getting the traction they deserve, while vapid celebrity memoirs invariably dominate the bestseller lists. When my last book did not sell particularly well, I initially blamed myself: but I’ve come to see its fate as part of a much larger pattern that I want to explain in this essay. I have also, with a lot of work, begun to rethink my ideas about what books are for and how to approach my next one. So I’m writing this post as an exercise in demystification as well as to provide a useful resource—ask me anything in the comments—for aspiring authors.