F. Scott Fitzgerald Statistics

F. Scott Fitzgerald sales statistics

Fitzgerald’s most famous novel and best-seller, The Great Gatsby, only sold 25,000 copies before he died in 1940
Since then, it has sold over 30 million copies
The Great Gatsby still sells 500,000 copies per year
In 1920, Fitzgerald’s first novel, This Side of Paradise, sold 40,000 copies in its first year
The book sold 49,075 during his lifetime earning him royalties of $13,036 between 1920 and 1923
In 1919, Fitzgerald earned $879 – less than the amount required to pay tax and was essentially living in poverty
In 1920, after the release of his first novel, he earned $17,055
- He sold 11 short stories to magazines for $3,975
- 4 short stories to movie studios for $7,425
- Made $6,200 in royalties on This Side of Paradise
Fitzgerald went on to average an income of around $24,000 for the rest of his working life – putting him in the top 1% of earners in the USA at the time
The two modern movie adaptations of Fitzgerald’s works have made over $650 million at the box office
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button made $335.8 million at the box office
- The Great Gatsby (2013) made $353.6 million a the box office

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote 4 novels plus a final unfinished novel that was released after his death
He also released 4 collections of short stories
Fitzgerald published 164 short stories during his lifetime that were generally published in magazines, newspapers or as part of his short story collections
Fitzgeralds works often focused on the relaxing of social norms and the move towards self-gratification in American society at the time
He is widely credited for coining and/ or popularizing the term “The Jazz Age” to describe the 1920s

13 feature length movies have been made based on the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby has been made into a movie on 4 different occasions
The two modern movie adaptations of Fitzgerald’s works have made over $650 million at the box office
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button made $335.8 million at the box office
- The Great Gatsby (2013) made $353.6 million a the box office

Title	Year
The Chorus Girl’s Romance	1920
The Husband Hunter	1920
The Off-Shore Pirate	1921
The Beautiful and Damned	1922
Grit	1924
The Great Gatsby	1926
The Great Gatsby	1949
The Last Time I Saw Paris	1954
Tender Is the Night	1962
The Great Gatsby	1974
The Last Tycoon	1976
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	2008
The Great Gatsby	2013

Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1896
His full name was Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald
He was named after Francis Scott Key – the man who wrote the lyrics to The Star Spangled Banner and a distant relative
Fitzgerald mainly grew up in Buffalo, New York attendeding school there until the final two years of high school which he spent in New Jersey.

Fitzgerald went on to study at Princeton
During his time there he met a girl called Ginerva King – he was lower class and she was upper class. She was the inspiration for many of his characters – including Daisy Buchanan.
After being rejected by Ginerva, Fitzgerald joined the army hoping to fight in WW1
The heartbroken Fitzgerald hoped to die at war in Europe so he wrote a manuscript quickly hoping to have it published before his death
It was rejected by publishers but did receive some positive feedback
Fitzgerald was never sent to war and after it ended he was discharged, moved to New York City and got a job at an advertising agency
He was still writing in his spare time
Fitzgerald’s second love, Zelda, had also rejected him and he was once again suicidal
He quit his job, went home to Minnesota, and decided to focus on one last attempt and having a novel published
He was successful. Scribner accepted his novel, This Side of Paradise, which became an instant success
Fitzgerald became a household name and newspapers started to accept his stories that they had already rejected in the past
His engagement to Zelda was back on now that he was financially successful and the pair got married in 1920

Zelda and Fitzgerald lived in hotels, partied a lot, and lived an indulgent lifestyle
Their daughter Frances Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1922
When she was born, Zelda said she was glad it was a girl and hoped she would be “a beautiful little fool” — a line Fitzgerald used verbatim in The Great Gatsby
Now living out in Long Island, a neighbor and the luxurious parties provided the inspiration for Jay Gatsby
In 1924, Fitzgerald moved the family to the French Riviera to focus on the book but Zelda became entangled in an affair that led to an overdose which slowed the book down
They moved to Rome where he finished the book
It was expected to be a huge success but only sold 23,000 copies in its first year

Once the great depression hit, Fitzgerald’s writing was no longer aspirational but simply out of touch with the common man
Fitzgerald struggled with alcoholism throughout his life which impacted both his health and his work
After a short spell writing for a movie studio, he got sober and planned his great comeback novel
However, at the age of 44, he died of a heart attack in 1940 leaving his final novel unfinished