When Best-Selling Authors Remain Unknown: Colleen Who-ver?

 

After seeing a really delicious movie this opening weekend, Verity, I conveyed to my wife how much I enjoyed the thriller. I told her it was based on a novel by Colleen Hoover.   

She said: “Who?” 

And that is the state of books summed up.  

Hoover, as you may — or may not know — has released 27 novels that have sold 35 million copies worldwide. At one point, she had six books on the New York Times bestseller list at the same time.  

Now, as wildly successful as that sounds, it also makes sense that most people, like my wife, who used to work in the book publishing industry marketing audiobooks, are not familiar with her. In a world of eight billion, 35 million copies is nothing. Even if all the books sold were in America (they were not), and there were no duplicate readers (but there are many), 9 in 10 will still not have read any of her books.  

I am always curious as to why so few books get read by at least a million people, even with tremendous marketing campaigns, great reviews, and strong word-of-mouth. I am even more curious as to why books that cross such a threshold don’t obliterate it.   

I mean, if you are good enough and famous enough to sell a million copies, why not five, 10 or 20 million sales?   

In many cases, writers develop loyal fans who will buy more than one copy of a book, perhaps to give as gifts. They will also buy other titles written by that author. So, 35 million copies over 23 books may mean she has up to a million loyal readers who buy everything Hoover puts out. But is that the case?  

It Ends With Us, also turned into a movie, has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. That means the other 26 books sold 25 million copies, or about a million per book. What happened to the other nine million who read It Ends With Us? They have not bought her other books at anywhere near that rate.  

Judging from Hoover’s record, she retains some type of readership from one book to another but it also appears that she rotates readers — losing some from the prior book while luring new ones in for the newest one. 

I have never read a Hoover book but the movie, Verity, was very entertaining. Am I curious enough to start reading her books? Not yet, but I will watch another movie based on her books. 

 

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Brian Feinblum can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors like you to promote your story, sell your book, and grow your brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator! 

 

About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over 10, 300,000 page views. With over 5,700+ posts over the past 15 years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2026, 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2026.

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully) and (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/10-things-my-dog-taught-me-about-marketing-books). He was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, three times at BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association, Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, five times at Morgan James Publishing Red Carpet, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

 

You can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum