Dark Humanity is New York Times Bestseller

I’m honored to have been part of the Dark Humanity team these past several months. With 21 other authors we landed at #5 on the New York Times Bestseller List (#8 on USA Today list). I can’t thank my partners for the shared vision and dedication week after week to promote the boxed set and drive up those sales numbers. On release week we sold something like 22,000 copies!

We had a boxed set expert at the helm–Rebecca Hamilton–but getting onto the NYT list is harder than it looks. You’ll need to work hard, though that should be obvious. You can’t just write a good book, though that’s part of it. You can’t just throw money at marketing, though that’s necessary. Even getting a traditional publisher isn’t a guarantee of success. Even after hitting on all cylinders for the four months of build-up, the curators of the list may decide you aren’t “right” for their list. If they don’t favor you, then *poof* goes your chances. We saw this happen to peers several times in our quest. In the end, the one factor you’ll need but can’t control is luck.

There are rumors NYT is constantly making it more difficult for independent authors to reach the top shelf of the publishing industry. They’ve apparently eliminated some ebook-only categories, though it isn’t clear exactly what that means. Our set was ebook only, and it went through with no issues.

Getting credentials is wonderful, but at the end of the day they don’t mean much. It hasn’t made my writing suddenly better. I’m not magically going to make a million space bucks. It hasn’t made me popular on my street. There’s no secondary market for signed copies of my backlist. Mostly I see this as another reason to get up every morning and crank out five or ten thousand words in a day. I have to prove to my readers I’m improving my craft and living up to the accolades by creating new worlds with great characters having interesting adventures.

Nope, being a New York Times Bestseller hasn’t changed my life. But it may change my future. To that end, if you’ll excuse me, I need to crank out some words before breakfast.

EE Isherwood, New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author