News "The World's Favourite Storyteller" Danielle Steel hits one billion copies sold worldwide

[E G Logan]

Direct quote from her publisher, Macmillian, in their ad in the weekly The Bookseller (today).

Quite a thought, isn't it?

 

[Emily]

One billion... Wow

 

[MattScho]

Okay, a publicist said it, but is that true? She's written 190 books (140 novels). One billion sales means each book sold an average of 5.9 million copies. Her books don't make it into the lists of best selling books of all time, though the lists I looked at stopped at 10 million sold, still, that would seem to imply that she didn't have breakout hits selling 30 million copies meaning her sales could lag a bit on other titles.
What the numbers would mean, then, is that pretty much every book she wrote sold 5 million copies, and some sold 7 million. that is amazing, if true.

 

[Hannah F]

William Shakespeare and Agatha Christie have sold more.

 

[E G Logan]

that is amazing, if true

Mmm, that was sort of my point.

 

[MattScho]

William Shakespeare and Agatha Christie have sold more.

I had to look up her numbers. She only published 66 novels, and Wiki was the easiest to get total sales from, and they say a total of more than 2 billion copies sold. If that is correct, she's averaged 30 million copies per book. Wow. Total wow.

 

[Pamela Jo]

I had to look up her numbers. She only published 66 novels, and Wiki was the easiest to get total sales from, and they say a total of more than 2 billion copies sold. If that is correct, she's averaged 30 million copies per book. Wow. Total wow.

Indicates slow but sure takes the race. It is the loyal readership over generations that seems to have added up to that figure. I do remember reading something by her with a character named Daisy? It was where I learned about lurchers and their remarkable ability to steal food. I will say of all the "easy-reading-women's-book-authors" that I have read, I remember her book the most.

 

[Jonny]

Yeah, but come on. Ask yourself this question.

Is she happy?

 

[Emily]

Yeah, but come on. Ask yourself this question.

Is she happy?

(possibly the most Irish response ever)

 

[E G Logan]

I have to ask myself, if I had sold that many books, would I not just want to buy an island somewhere warm and lie by the sea.
Or a palazzo with a landing stage on the Grand Canal where I could sink the odd Aperol spritz and watch life going by...

 

[Hannah F]

I have to ask myself, if I had sold that many books, would I not just want to buy an island somewhere warm and lie by the sea.
Or a palazzo with a landing stage on the Grand Canal where I could sink the odd Aperol spritz and watch life going by...

Ah, but writing us a bug that gnaws at you until you do it, and watching life go by will only inspire more stories.