Things are going swimmingly with Essentials of Corporate Fraud, but I find myself not knowing how to answer a common question. “How are book sales going?” Well, I don’t know. What is your frame of reference?

Professional books like this aren’t ever going to be New York Times best sellers, so if that’s what your definition of “great” is, then I suppose I don’t meet it. But in terms of books in my field, things are going really great.

I knew nothing about book publishing when I started this adventure, and I’m still learning. I was looking at my sales, and felt they should be higher. Should they? I don’t know. Why not ask my marketing guy at John Wiley & Sons. Surely he’d know whether my book was meeting expectations.

And to my delight, I’m doing far better than expected! The book has been out for only five months, but already it has exceeded the sales that the publisher expects for the first nine to twelve months.

I also found out that books like Essentials of Corporate Fraud will probably sell the most books in years two and three. People start to read it in year one, but it takes a bit for them to read it, enjoy it, and recommend it to other professionals. So all-in-all, things are looking great.

This is also a great time to mention a bit that I found via Joe Wikert’s Publishing 2020 Blog. Are you interested in getting published but not sure about how to approach agents and editors? Then this list of the Ten Things that Agents and Editors Hate by Rick Frishman and Robyn Freedman Spizman might be for you.

A few of my favorites:

1. Writers claim no competition exists. – Ha! There is competition for everyone and everything out there. This one reminds me of my graduate students writing business plans… They have no competition either. (And then they also lose about 25% of the points on the project!)

2. Writers claim their books will be the next blockbuster. Although it’s essential for authors to be enthusiastic about their books, it’s equally important that they be realistic. – Yeah, nothing like it out there and yours will be a best seller.

4. Submissions are made for books on subjects that the agent or editor doesn’t handle. – What better way to blow your chances than to not do your homework!

7. Writers try to be cute, instead of being direct and straightforward. – Being memorable is one thing. Being a total moron is another.

I haven’t spent a ton of Time looking at Rick and Robyn’s site, Author 101, but the quick scan I gave it suggests it has some good resources for authors. In my own experience, I’ve found that lots of authors in my area of expertise are clueless when it comes to marketing their books. Rick and Robyn have a book on getting publicity for your book, which I’ve just purchased and will tell you about after I read it.