138 Copies

I think the answer is to find different ways of measuring literary success.

138 copies. A few weeks ago, when I received my first royalty check of $27.08, I received the news: 138 copies. My first book of poems, Blind Date with Cavafy, sold a total of 138 copies.

My question: was that good or bad?

To me, it sounded like a lot. I had been lucky enough to win the Third Annual Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Book Prize, judged by Denise Duhamel, which resulted in the publication of my book. Marsh Hawk Press’ editors, particularly Sandy McIntosh, the late Rochelle Ratner, and the brilliant cover designer Claudia Carlson, were nothing but kind to me. I had no choice but to ask myself: did I fail them by not selling more than 138 copies in over a year?

Comments

[Heather]

Although i don't remember the exact figure precisely... there are letters with Virginia Woolf gushing ecstatically (ok, that's a tad of an exaggeration) over selling something like a dozen copies of a novel in a month... that's only 144 copies a year! No matter the figure... it was lowly... below a hundred.

If Woolf could measure success by different standards, so can you.

[Daniel]

Yes he did fail them, though maybe he did not fail his own work. Poetry sells for the most part at readings and events, and so getting a book into the hands of readers is all leg-work.