A Year in the Life of Book Sales

Tuesday, October 27, 2026 - 12:11 bookreview.jpg Want to know what a year in the sales life of a very small-time author looks like? Let me nerd out about numbers for you. Due to several factors, mostly relating to my retirement last year, 2026 has been the first year I've made a serious push to participate in in-person book sales at events, mostly local Pride events and book fairs. Since the in-person season has come to a close, I thought I'd share what that looks like for a small author who doesn't do nearly enough book promotion. (I plan to work on that, but it's the hardest part for me.) Currently, I have 7 books out: 5 from small presses and 2 self-published (one of which is very niche non-fiction). Currently I get income from those books via 3 methods: royalties from my publishers, income from online books sales for the self-published titles (currently all through third parties, though I'm working on setting up to sell direct from my website), and in-person sales (all titles). As…