Meaning of verb + negative-verb


While reading 君死にたもう流星群 vol. 4, I found this sentence:

> 黒井{くろい}の本はまったく売れない。いや、 **売れる売れない** というレベルではなく、開始二時間が経つというのに誰ひとり客が来ない

Kuroi is attending together with the main character an event like Comiket, and
she is selling her book, but no one is buying it; what does 売れる売れない mean?
Initially I read it something like "It could sell, but despite this it
didn't", but I'm not sure, since it doesn't really seem to connect well with
the second part: in general it'd mean something like "It's not the it could
sell but it didn't, not even a customer showed up", but no customer showing up
doesn't exclude that the book could sell, so I'm not sure if it means that or
something else.



  * This 売れる is not a potential form of 売る, but an [intransitive verb 売れる](https://jisho.org/word/%E5%A3%B2%E3%82%8C%E3%82%8B) meaning "(for something) to sell well". Forget the potential れる.
  * 売れる売れない is a noun phrase. In general, this pattern works with any verb and means "(a problem of) V or not V". For the grammar, see: 
    * [What does 似てる似てない mean?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/56186/5010)
    * [VかV-negか vs. V | V-neg vs. Vかどうか](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/56180/5010)
  * レベル refers to the severity or degree of an issue.
  * There is no such verb as 軽つ. It's 経つ.

> いや、売れる売れないというレベルではなく、開始二時間が経つというのに誰ひとり客が来ない。
>
> No, it's not even a matter of selling well or not selling well; even though
> it's been two hours since the start, not a single customer has come.



  * This 売れる is not a potential form of 売る, but an [intransitive verb 売れる](https://jisho.org/word/%E5%A3%B2%E3%82%8C%E3%82%8B) meaning "(for something) to sell well". Forget the potential れる.
  * 売れる売れない is a noun phrase. In general, this pattern works with any verb and means "(a problem of) V or not V". For the grammar, see: 
    * [What does 似てる似てない mean?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/56186/5010)
    * [VかV-negか vs. V | V-neg vs. Vかどうか](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/56180/5010)
  * レベル refers to the severity or degree of an issue.
  * There is no such verb as 軽つ. It's 経つ.

> いや、売れる売れないというレベルではなく、開始二時間が経つというのに誰ひとり客が来ない。
>
> No, it's not even a matter of selling well or not selling well; even though
> it's been two hours since the start, not a single customer has come.

