The LDS Book Market

It may be helpful for authors to understand the practical size of the LDS market. It is difficult to estimate the actual size of a market because of the diversity of languages and cost of shipping to foreign countries. Therefore, when estimating the number of books that can be sold and might be sold, most LDS publishers use as their reference the Church's North American and Canadian (NAC) membership. Similar statistics can be derived for our Spanish, German, and French speaking brothers and sisters, but an analysis of that type is beyond the scope of this description.

As of July 2007, the Church's NAC membership was approximately 5,924,456 people. Generally, only one book will be sold to a family. According to the U.S. Census, the average family is 3.14 people. Therefore the Church's NAC membership is approximately 1,886,769 families. The Church's active membership is approximately 35%; therefore, the ceiling for any publication is 660,369 copies. This is an enormous number that is rarely approached by authors other than General Authorities.

Tastes and preferences for non-celebrity authors vary from person to person. This is especially true when considering fiction (such as romance) versus nonfiction (such as doctrine). Each publisher's experience will vary, but based on WindRiver Publishing's experience in the LDS market, a common estimate for all books is that only one in twenty households might want to buy any particular book. This establishes the best-seller market size for any LDS book as approximately 33,000 copies. Most books have a lifetime sales potential of one-tenth the best seller market size, or 3,300 copies — which will be larger for some genres, and smaller for others.

New Author Expectation: 750 – 2,000 copies.

Experienced Author Expectation: 3,000 – 10,000 copies.

Popular Author Expectation: 15,000 – 30,000 copies.

All authors should note that there is never a guarantee of sales. Regardless of the money spent on promotion or the quality of a book, the public may simply decide to read another book. The expectations provided above are averages and are in no way a guarantee for any specific book.

A Labor of Love

Many new authors believe that, with their very first book, they can quit their day jobs. Regrettably, this is rarely the case. Assuming the best-possible result for a new author, an average royalty of 8% of the retail book price, and an average book price of $15, the lifetime return for a single title is $2,400. There are only three ways to increase this number.

Negotiate a larger royalty. However, there is only so much money to go around. A 16% royalty is gigantic and would only inccrease the return to $4,800.
Write more books. Every publisher hopes a successful author will write more books, but writing books takes time and effort. Many authors cannot write more than one book each year, so after ten years the author will have earned $24,000.
Sell more books! The simplest way to increase your return is to help the publisher promote your books. Printing more books is easier than writing new books and much simpler than negotiating a greater royalty. Become a popular author and each title will return up to $36,000. You can do this by…
- Involving yourself with online communities and telling people about your book.
- Including the book title and appropriate link as your signature for emails or online communication.
- Becoming involved with fan groups and reading circles.
- Inviting fans throughout the Church to tell other people about your book or to visit your website.

Market Growth 1989–2008

The LDS North-American market has enjoyed a twenty-year average annual growth rate of 1.9% for a total market increase of 43%.

Year Canadian Members U.S. Members Total Growth Rate

1989 125,177 4,173,919 4,299,096 n/a

1990 128,365 4,266,653 4,395,018 2.23%

1991 130,321 4,336,044 4,466,365 1.62%

1992 133,369 4,428,934 4,562,303 2.15%

1993 137,510 4,519,273 4,656,783 2.07%

1994 140,741 4,612,223 4,752,964 2.07%

1995 143,486 4,710,795 4,854,281 2.13%

1996 148,811 4,808,875 4,957,686 2.13%

1997 151,439 4,922,670 5,074,109 2.35%

1998 154,391 5,022,419 5,176,810 2.02%

1999 156,575 5,112,773 5,269,348 1.79%

2000 158,511 5,207,678 5,366,189 1.84%

2001 160,743 5,309,501 5,470,244 1,94%

2002 163,666 5,409,421 5,573,087 1.88%

2003 166,442 5,502,107 5,668,549 1.71%

2004 170,214 5,598,079 5,768,293 1.76%

2005 172,433 5,6690,672 5,863,105 1.64%

2006 175,383 5,779,316 5,954,699 1.56%

2007 178,102 5,873,408 6,051,510 1.63%

2008 177,600 5,974,041 6,151,641 1.65%

* Membership data provided by the LDS Church's Statistical Records Department.