You are currently browsing the NovelRank Blog archives for April, 2010.

Biking 150 Miles to Support Multiple Sclerosis Research

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Overlooking Estes Park, CO - August 29, 2009

 

MS generally strikes in the prime of life—ages 20-50, and 73% of those diagnosed are women. 9,500+ in Colorado are living with MS.

 

Last year I rode in Colorado’s BikeMS ride and raised a measly $400 for the event. I even wrote a full story of my BikeMS personal experience to share with others. This year, I want to ride faster, better, and raise a ton more money. See, I’ve spoken about supporting authors, supporting NovelRank, and recent troubles with Amazon. With all that, I still try and give back in my community and my world.

Posing at Estes Park, CO sign

This year, I am extending my reach. If you know someone who has or had Multiple Sclerosis, and you believe in supporting research that could stop the daily needle pricks given by caregivers and provide air conditioning units that help sufferers keep their symptoms in check, then consider supporting my ride. I’m biking 150 miles over two days, and if I can, I’ll make it 175 total miles (100 miles on the second day). I try not to ask too much from NovelRank visitors that isn’t directly related to supporting NovelRank or providing a new free service, but in this case, I thought it was worth your attention. Thanks for reading and supporting Multiple Sclerosis research.

Improved Multiple Sale Tracking for Amazon Kindle eBooks

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

Thanks to author feedback from authors with access to Amazon DTP (Digital Text Platform) and thus real-time sales numbers for Kindle books, I was finally able to add more accurate sales estimates for Kindle Books. This includes tracking up to three sales per hour. For Kindle books selling as frequently as 7 books per day, the accuracy is up to 95% for sales estimates. For Kindle ebooks selling 30 or less per month, accuracy should be closer to 98%.

There is still room for improvement, but previously NovelRank’s accuracy was at 78% for books selling 3 or more per day or more specifically, multi-sale hours. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to retroactively run sales history through the new formulas, so the accuracy is improved as of today moving forward. In all cases, including the future, NovelRank is underestimated book sales estimates on Kindle Edition books. I feel this is a better route that overestimating sales by 5%. Better safe than sorry.

Thanks again for the great feedback from authors to improve the accuracy of NovelRank book sales estimates on Amazon Kindle books.

Update: May 30, 2010 2:01am MDT
The new formula has been retroactively applied to all Kindle books tracked prior to 5/1/2010. You may notice slightly different sales numbers for your Kindle Edition books than you did previously.

Overwhelming and Amazing Author Generosity

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

When I first asked authors if they would donate a book for a monthly giveaway, I was inspired by donating my own book to a different website’s one year anniversary. I sent out a quick tweet on Twitter, and with a ‘yes’ from 3 authors, I decided, “Good enough, let’s do this!”

I had no idea…

It’s been 2 months since the giveaway was first announced, and I’ve received over 32 books from authors and publishers all over North America and Europe. You probably noticed that this month, two books were being given away. Next month, it may be a new book every 2 weeks. All I know is that as the pool of individuals interested in books from amazing authors and publishers grows larger, I’ll try and get more and more books out to feed their voracious appetites for amazing works printed on simple pages and wrapped in beautiful covers.

Why am I sharing this? Because I picked up a 25 pack of padded bubble mailers today to ensure I could easily continue to provide this promotion for all the generous authors, with the highest of quality and with as much care and attention as each one of these books deserves. I’m glad NovelRank has served you so well over the last 6 months of existence, and I intend to keep it going with your support into 2011 and beyond. I haven’t always been in love with books, and I can’t say I ever give enough time to them, but for the amazing people I’ve written to and heard from because of NovelRank, I couldn’t be more attached.

Simply put, Thank You.

An Apology – 3 Hours of Unavailable Details

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

Sorry. So very sorry. This is why you don’t write code early in the morning without a good night’s rest.

From 8am MDT till 11am MDT on April 6, 2010, book details pages were unavailable, generating an error message instead. Early this morning, I was fixing a bug to allow for a book I saw come into NovelRank that was only available on Amazon.co.jp. It was something I had never expected would occur, and thus there were a few tweaks that needed to be made so that: a) the book could be added, b) the book detail page could be viewed.

In the process, I didn’t check to ensure I didn’t make any mistakes… or rather, check everywhere, namely the book details page. The bug was fixed because NovelRank user’s sent me an email that I unfortunately did not see till lunchtime at my full time job, so I was unable to correct it till then.

Once again, I’m very sorry, as this affects the reputation of myself and of NovelRank. Thanks for understanding.

Sincerely,
Mario Lurig
Creator, NovelRank.com