How did these books do in terms of sales?
Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 10:04 am
Does anyone have any idea how well the Thomas Covenant books did sales wise? On the Wiki for the series, it has a "critical response" area which is sparse and naturally doesn't contain info about sales figures.
Obviously if the original book got greenlit and funded for a trilogy, and then a second trilogy after that was greenlit and funded - it must have done reasonably well. Also, the fact that there is this forum still here all these years later is indicative too.
But as someone who 1.) Has an awful memory and 2.) Didn't discover the series until the mid 1990s
I wish I had a better sense of what sort of place in the public consciousness these books have had over the years. Is there anyone on here who has a memory of back when these books were new or new-ish? Someone who remembers conversations had in book stores with employees or other readers? Any sense of how well known these were? How much discussion they generated?
And again, does anyone have any idea about sales figures? Especially in relation to other fantasy novels? Or is this the kind of info that is always kept close to the vest by publishers?
EDIT UPDATE:
I did just find this page: https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2015/0 ... -list.html
Where they say this:
It certainly is indicative that the series was big, which I kind of suspected but it was hard to tell clearly. I was born in 1980 so obviously during the heyday of the series, I was not yet aware of it.
Obviously if the original book got greenlit and funded for a trilogy, and then a second trilogy after that was greenlit and funded - it must have done reasonably well. Also, the fact that there is this forum still here all these years later is indicative too.
But as someone who 1.) Has an awful memory and 2.) Didn't discover the series until the mid 1990s
I wish I had a better sense of what sort of place in the public consciousness these books have had over the years. Is there anyone on here who has a memory of back when these books were new or new-ish? Someone who remembers conversations had in book stores with employees or other readers? Any sense of how well known these were? How much discussion they generated?
And again, does anyone have any idea about sales figures? Especially in relation to other fantasy novels? Or is this the kind of info that is always kept close to the vest by publishers?
EDIT UPDATE:
I did just find this page: https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2015/0 ... -list.html
Where they say this:
So that's something, but it does seem to indicate that "the real figure" is not known. Or at least the real figure for the whole series.Stephen Donaldson (10 million)
Stephen Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane, published in 1977, kick-started the modern epic fantasy explosion alongside Brooks' Sword of Shannara. However, unlike Brooks who has continued to work in the Shannara universe ever since, Donaldson spent a whole two decades trying to stay away from his signature character with works such as Mordant's Need and the superlative Gap series before recently returning to the series, and the bestseller lists, with The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Note that Lord Foul's Bane had sold 10 million copies by itself by 2004, so this figure will be considerably higher.
It certainly is indicative that the series was big, which I kind of suspected but it was hard to tell clearly. I was born in 1980 so obviously during the heyday of the series, I was not yet aware of it.