How many copies of Harper Lee’s books have been sold?
- Harper Lee’s two published books, To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman, sold over 43 million copies worldwide.
- To Kill a Mockingbird sold over 40 million copies worldwide alone.
- By the 1990s, To Kill a Mockingbird was selling at the pace of over 2 million copies per year, selling over 18 million copies by 1988.
- Even today, Mockingbird sells between 750,000 and 1 million copies every year.
- Go Set a Watchman sold over 1 million copies within 1 week of its release in the US alone, along with over 100,000 copies in the UK.
- It became the fastest-selling book in the history of its publisher (HarperCollins).
- Barnes & Noble reported that it was the highest-selling book on its first day, more than any adult fiction book ever published.
- Harper Lee’s books are translated into over 40 languages.
How much did Harper Lee earn from writing?
- The first printing edition of To Kill a Mockingbird contained 5,000 copies and was selling for $3.95 per book.
- Mockingbird generated $19,700 of income during the sales of the first printing edition.
- Lee was earning over $2.5 million per year in royalties from To Kill a Mockingbird during the 2000s.
- Lee’s earnings from Go Set a Watchman are estimated at $10 million in 2015 alone.
- At the time of her death, Harper Lee’s net worth was estimated at $35 million.
How many books did Harper Lee write?
- Harper Lee published only 2 books in her lifetime, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) and Go Set a Watchman (2015).
- Even though it was published 55 years after the Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman was actually written before it.
- In total, Harper lee published 559 pages or 140,000 words.
| Title | Published | Page Count | Audiobook Length |
| To Kill a Mockingbird | July 11, 1960 | 281 (first edition) | 12 hrs 17 min |
| Go Set a Watchman | July 14, 2015 | 278 | 6 hrs 57 min |
Harper Lee’s novel adaptations
- To Kill a Mockingbird was adapted into a movie in 1962, which was nominated for the Academy Award.
- The movie grossed $13,129,846 worldwide, with an additional income of $5,565,851 in video sales and streaming.
- To Kill a Mockingbird was also adapted into a Broadway play in 2018 by Aaron Sorkin.
- The play became the highest-grossing American play ever, grossing $2,018,314 only during week 4.
- In total, the play grossed over $58 million, including $22 million in advance sales.
