Comments for NovelRank Blog

Comment on Free Kindle Books and Amazon Sales Rank Tracking by Robert J. McCarter

Robert J. McCarter — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:38:08 +0000

Clear as a bell and exactly what I was seeing earlier this month with my free book.

Thanks for the clear explanation and the wonderful service!

Comment on Amazon Paperback Sales Rank in December by John Hileman

John Hileman — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:21:56 +0000

Thanks for the post. I was wondering about that.

Regards,
John Michael Hileman

Comment on Amazon Paperback Sales Rank in December by admin

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:55:56 +0000

Scott: Please see the FAQ for answers to your questions.
John: It was likely overestimating previously.

Comment on Amazon Paperback Sales Rank in December by Scott Meeker

Scott Meeker — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:51:07 +0000

Novel Rank is currently showing (as of 3-5Jan12) the December and January Kindle sales stats for my wife’s book, “Old World Murder”, with this notation: “* Sales Estimates are underestimated and actual sales may be much higher.” There is no such reference on the Kindle stats for her “The Heirloom Murders” book or for the trade paperback numbers for either of the books. What may be causing this, and when might non-underestimated sales numbers resume? I am concerned about the possibility that Amazon has lost track of the actual sales numbers, and about the royalty implications should that be the case.

Comment on Amazon Paperback Sales Rank in December by John Harding

John Harding — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:08:25 +0000

Hi Mario

I’ve noticed that since Christmas Day, when obviously lots of people got new kindles, my kindle sales have all but disappeared. Even though my ranking for Florence and Giles is holding reasonably steady, it’s registering virtually no sales. On past experience it ought to be registering at least 6-10 a day. Prior to this it was doing 10-13 a day and has been doing that for months now. Obviously holding steady or slipping a bit in what I presume are vastly higher overall kindle sales, ought to mean I continue to sell much as before, but according to novelrank I’ve suddenly gone from 10plus copies a day to zero. Another proof of this is my paperback sales. Yesterday novelrank had me selling 4 pbs and no kindles, which would be odd as neve rbefore has the pb outsold the kindle and usually sales go in a ratio of 3 or more to 1 in favour of kindles.

Thought you might like to know in the interests of accuracy.

Happy New Year

Warm regards

John (Harding)
John

Comment on Sales Rank Myths Busted – What Effects Changes in SalesRank by Marco Moreno Flores

Marco Moreno Flores — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 03:29:22 +0000

Wow, this is very useful and concise information. I just released my first book and am learning a great deal. Thank you!

Comment on Major Update: Sales Estimates and Overall Speed by Jodi Polos

Jodi Polos — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 03:42:45 +0000

I have a favor to ask, My book was published online nov 10th, and a friend told me about your wonderful tracking systen two weeks later, is it possible receive book sales and rank for those two weeks I missed.
Book Haunting in Big Bear Lake A True Story
book 1465369872
kindle B0068BXLSS
Thank you,
Jodi Polos
phillip2564@hotmail.com

Comment on Video Thank You to NovelRank Supporters by healme

healme — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 04:54:05 +0000

congratulations to all donors & Novelrank!
you’re great people..

Comment on Major Update: Sales Estimates and Overall Speed by admin

admin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:12:24 +0000

Kate: tracking for your title:
http://www.novelrank.com/asin/0781405084
Didn’t start till Nov 6, so it would have never had any October info. Any further questions, email me (see FAQ for the address)

Comment on Major Update: Sales Estimates and Overall Speed by Kate Lloyd

Kate Lloyd — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:09:27 +0000

Great that you updated, but I lost my pre-sale stats for October! And now Nov says 0. Can you help?

Comment on Amazon.it (Italy) Sales Rank Tracking Now Available by admin

admin — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 06:43:49 +0000

Not automatically (yet… I’m considering a new feature where you pay a small fee to make that happen).
You need to go back to the Track page to check for new domains.

Comment on Amazon.it (Italy) Sales Rank Tracking Now Available by Lisa

Lisa — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 05:29:00 +0000

If I enabled all domains when I first started tracking the book, does it continue to check all domains (including new ones) each time?

Thanks!
Lisa

Comment on Final Author Book Giveaway – Three Winners by Patricia K

Patricia K — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:32:30 +0000

I love the cover on the rainbow book

Comment on Final Author Book Giveaway – Three Winners by Georgiann Hennelly

Georgiann Hennelly — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:42:20 +0000

All three books sound excellant.I look forward to reading them

Comment on Final Author Book Giveaway – Three Winners by Amy

Amy — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:37:13 +0000

These books sound wonderful. I really like that Trust No One & The Balls in Her Court touch on the foster care system because I think many people aren’t aware of the many problems & issues in our foster care system and of the need for some changes. Not to mention, all three of these books sound captivating and intriguing!

Thank you!

Comment on Final Author Book Giveaway – Three Winners by Jo Ann

Jo Ann — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 10:47:32 +0000

These all sound like great reads!

Comment on Final Author Book Giveaway – Three Winners by sheri wilkinson

sheri wilkinson — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 02:59:15 +0000

Trust no One & The Balls in her court sound awesome.
I have read pieces of a rainbow I cherish this wonderful masterpiece!

Comment on User Accounts – Multiple Books on Personal User Page by Annie Rayburn

Annie Rayburn — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 05:00:25 +0000

Thanks, that worked!

Comment on User Accounts – Multiple Books on Personal User Page by admin

admin — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:35:42 +0000

Annie,
When you click on any of the buttons, it will pop-up a window where you actually login with that service. In the background (the original window), the little ‘working’ whirl (cute by the way) is visible until you complete the task in the pop-up window. My guess is that you aren’t getting the pop-up window, so make sure you allow pop-ups from novelrank.com in your browser.

Comment on User Accounts – Multiple Books on Personal User Page by Annie Rayburn

Annie Rayburn — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:26:01 +0000

I’ve tried repeatedly to make an account with NovelRank, but when I click on any of the buttons related to accounts I already have, the little ‘working’ whirl comes on and stays on indefinitely but never connects to anything or gives me a page to input information. What gives?

Comment on Top of Amazon Search Rankings – Only 200 Copies Available by Phil

Phil — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:17:45 +0000

Firstly, let me say that I haven’t pursued everything in the eBook (although I will definitely be doing so, with a first trial later today).

That said, I have obtained the following results from a very limited application of the techniques you provide over two weeks (at Amazon.com):
Search Term 1: Original Rank 12 New Rank 11
Search Term 2: Original Rank 42 New Rank 7

Other Amazon domain:
Search Term 1: Original Rank 27 New Rank 3
Search Term 2: Original Rank 42 New Rank 7

I now plan to have a targeted assault on Amazon.com to see if I can push from 12 to top 3 on my number one search term. I’m very optimistic.

Thanks for a great eBook. It’s well written, easy to follow and, most importantly, contains great advice!

Comment on NovelRank’s ‘Inactive’ Status and How to Activate a Book Again by admin

admin — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 13:53:02 +0000

Lisa,
Unfortunately, if Amazon has stopped providing a sales rank for the book (which seems to be happening more and more for books becoming Free), NovelRank can’t track it. It can be reactivated once it has a price and thus a sales rank.

Comment on NovelRank’s ‘Inactive’ Status and How to Activate a Book Again by Lisa Cooke

Lisa Cooke — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:41:29 +0000

My book was recently dropped to free. According to amazon, it has had 30,000 downloads since then, but even though I did the steps you’ve listed above, it still says “inactive”. I would love to see my downloads. Any suggestions?
Lisa

Comment on Top of Amazon Search Rankings – Only 200 Copies Available by admin

admin — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:10:03 +0000

Tahir: It works for ALL products on Amazon, not just digital products. So yes.
Melanie: Thanks for the positive review; I’m glad it is working so well for you!

Comment on Top of Amazon Search Rankings – Only 200 Copies Available by Tahir

Tahir — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:02:40 +0000

Hi,
Is the method suitable only for Kindle books or does it work for regular paperback listings as well?
Thanks

Comment on Top of Amazon Search Rankings – Only 200 Copies Available by Melanie

Melanie — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 02:08:34 +0000

I just wanted to say thanks. I did have doubts, and I even emailed you a few days ago…but it kicked in! Not only that, but that ‘other place’ got me into a second job on the side making a little money.:) My books that were doing zilch, have now had 6 sales in August. 6. I’m not on the top 3, but dang being on page 3 of scifi isn’t that bad!

Thanks so much for making this book!:)It has renewed my confidence again.^^

Comment on Two Book Giveaway – First to Last Month of Giveaways by Betty Gelean

Betty Gelean — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 23:26:58 +0000

These two books sound great. Dances with Marmots: From Mexico to Canada along the Pacific Crest Trail has special meaning to me living in BC, and also supporting the protection and recovery of the Vancouver Island Marmots. (My daughter got me involved, I believe it was headed up by a friend of hers.) I recall when my family and my brother did the Vancouver Island portion of the Trail. I wasn’t able to join them having just had surgery. At the end of the section, my son had literally walked right out of his shoes, my husband tried making Kraft dinner for the first time and put everything including the cheese in the pot of water! They got back a day earlier than expected and arrived in the late evening. I opened the door to their knock and closed it again, right in my son’s face. I didn’t recognize him! They got a ride back in the back of a pick-up truck over dirt roads to where another of my brothers was going to meet them. This was about 30 years ago. The books sound wonderful! The Pacific Crest Trail is beautiful, at least the part I know about.

Comment on Two Book Giveaway – First to Last Month of Giveaways by Georgiann Hennelly

Georgiann Hennelly — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:26:33 +0000

this sounds like a really interesting read.

Comment on Top of Amazon Search Rankings – Only 200 Copies Available by admin

admin — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:06:07 +0000

Hey Barry,
It has absolutely zero to do with ‘tips that everyone else uses’. It’s not about buying a bunch of copies of your book, slamming it with reviews, or doing $0.99 sales. I would never dare to put up for sale that kind of info (Like the MYTHS post, it would be free). It’s one fantastic secret and a method for leveraging it for either free (time cost) of less than $5 (minor monetary cost).
That is also why it has the 30-day money back guarantee and of course, I’m putting my endorsement behind it, because I hope that makes you comfortable with the purchase.

Comment on Top of Amazon Search Rankings – Only 200 Copies Available by Barry Crowther

Barry Crowther — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:56:43 +0000

Hey NovelRank,

I love the service and don’t doubt that this information is important and relevant. What worries me is it’s the same stuff we already know – get a ton of reviews etc. At $50 it’s not worth the risk.

If you think this is something that authors don’t know and is proprietary knowledge then I’m in … but give us a little more info. It’s too vague to jump into an eBook at that price point. Even if it’s a reply to this comment, that would be great.

BTW I don’t expect it to be some magic button, so that’s fine. But if you just go and tell me to get a bunch of reviews and post them all in 24 hours then I’ll be bent out of shape on that one! Seen some crazy stuff and crazier promises over the last couple of years :) Bit of reassurance would be perfect.

Thanks
Barry

Comment on Featured Book Donation Drive – Spring 2011 by admin

admin — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:56:09 +0000

Patrick:
I’ve replied to you via email since it is very specific to the current timing (and thus would be confusing as as comment).

Comment on Featured Book Donation Drive – Spring 2011 by Patrick C Coulson

Patrick C Coulson — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 10:04:24 +0000

Hi Mario – Have been using NovelRank for a short time and find it very helpful. OK if I contribute $50 to your website and therefore eligible for Featured Book spot when does my book start appearing and when does it stop? Kindest regards Patrick.

Yes I will be contributing but will be awaiting your answer, Enough to say thank you for the service, but the $50 – we shall await your answer.

Comment on NovelRank iPhone, iPod, and iPad App Released by admin

admin — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 05:03:47 +0000

I’d love to offer an Android phone, but ebutterfly is an iOS developer, and I’m far too busy to build an android app (I’d have to learn it all from scratch), so unless an android developer comes forward to team up…

Comment on NovelRank iPhone, iPod, and iPad App Released by healme

healme — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 04:36:18 +0000

wow what was already a very good thing now getting better.

congratulation everyone!

just that.. is there an app for android too?
don’t leave us out :-)

Comment on Top of Amazon Search Rankings – Only 200 Copies Available by admin

admin — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 21:06:23 +0000

It’s a 20+ page document that tells you what influences Amazon search, and then provides actionable instructions (very clearly) that show you how to use that knowledge to raise your search rankings. There is definitely no slogging, but it is a guide, not a magic button.

PS
Most magic buttons are scams, this is researched, tested, and actionable.

Comment on Top of Amazon Search Rankings – Only 200 Copies Available by Tim Woods

Tim Woods — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 20:16:18 +0000

Sirs:

What exactly is this offer. If I purchase it, what do I have to do then? (I don’t want to be slogging through pages of instructions to get computers to do thingg–my worry.)

Comment on July Giveaway – Two Books Together by Chelle Cordero

Chelle Cordero — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 08:11:09 +0000

Happy July!
Putting my name in for the giveaway.

Comment on July Giveaway – Two Books Together by Georgiann Hennelly

Georgiann Hennelly — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 22:40:20 +0000

Both of these books sound interesting, hope i win would love to read them

Comment on NovelRank’s ‘Inactive’ Status and How to Activate a Book Again by admin

admin — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:29:08 +0000

When you moved it to free, Amazon puts it into a different ‘sales rank’ bucket. Thus, once it makes a sale at the free level, it will have a rank again and can be tracked.

Comment on NovelRank’s ‘Inactive’ Status and How to Activate a Book Again by Truman

Truman — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 04:58:58 +0000

I tried to reactivate a book and it told me it has to have a sale. The price of the book was recently dropped to free…Does the site not track free books?

Comment on June Hardcover Book Giveaway by Rita Spratlen

Rita Spratlen — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 03:01:31 +0000

I would love to read these great books. Thanks for the chance!

Comment on June Hardcover Book Giveaway by Debra Hall

Debra Hall — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 23:29:08 +0000

great books i’d love to read

Comment on June Hardcover Book Giveaway by Christian Griffin

Christian Griffin — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 23:11:00 +0000

Great Giveaway!

Comment on Lesson Learned: Financial Motivations will Affect Book Sales by admin

admin — Mon, 30 May 2011 15:58:34 +0000

The impulse price of $2.99 is a value that is low enough that someone may purchase it as an impulse, not a measured decision. A low price (but not too low) can sway a reader into being a purchaser. The impulse price is based on a smaller percentage of the average price for books in that genre/theme. It doesn’t really work in Fiction.

Comment on Lesson Learned: Financial Motivations will Affect Book Sales by stephen langford

stephen langford — Mon, 30 May 2011 15:52:28 +0000

what does the impulse pricing mean?

Comment on May 2011 Book Giveaway by Rita Spratlen

Rita Spratlen — Sun, 29 May 2011 07:17:13 +0000

I just found your site. Great books! Thanks for the chance. Rita Spratlen

Comment on Amazon.cn (China) Close to Launching Product Advertising API by Rob Gainey

Rob Gainey — Tue, 17 May 2011 18:34:39 +0000

Thank you! Keep up the great work!

Comment on Lesson Learned: Financial Motivations will Affect Book Sales by admin

admin — Sun, 15 May 2011 04:17:24 +0000

Hey Shawn,
Thanks for the feedback, and I’m always happy to have it. I designed the cover personally, using a creative commons image (I try to do this always and was successful with my PHP book). I did have a different image in mind, but without shooting the new image myself (I will not use stock photography), I went with the best option available. I definitely will consider going after a new cover (and fixing one minor typo that got through) when I am done with some current projects and switch back into ‘book’ mode.

Comment on Lesson Learned: Financial Motivations will Affect Book Sales by Shawn

Shawn — Sat, 14 May 2011 23:53:07 +0000

Much of that is true, and in addition there is an old cliche that, having managed a B&N store for a good amount of time, I can tell you is, unfortunately, more true than most would like to admit: people *do* judge a book by it’s cover. To be honest, Mario, I wouldn’t give up on your conversation starter book. I would look at a more “engaging” cover. I’m not trying to hurt your feelings, but I would never buy this book, not because of the content, but because as I am looking through the *millions* of books on Amazon, I have to be struck by something to separate one book from another, and for many people, that is not simply price. The cover shows two women in casual clothes chatting to the side. Now, I would think most people interested in this type of book would like conversation starters between men and women, with people at work, or at parties. None of these “major interest” demographics seem to appear on the cover. I don’t think young women really have to search hard for topics to talk about with each other. Also, the font is, let’s just admit it, not memorable, and is really much too close to the edges of the book cover. So, the cover says to me (really, don’t hate me, I’m just the messenger) “amateur”. People want experts to teach them, comedians to make them laugh, and graphics to give them a sense of the “style” of the writing within. Do you think the cover you currently selected matches the style of writing inside, is it geared toward young women, is your book description “fleshed out” with some examples of witty conversations included to entice the reader? Since updates to Kindle manuscripts are free, you might want to test out the book with a slightly jazzed up cover and see if you get any better response. The only cost to you is your time. Just a thought…

Comment on NovelRank Just Got Faster Worldwide by Rob

Rob — Mon, 09 May 2011 16:05:43 +0000

Great to hear that there is iphone-App to come :D

Comment on May 2011 Book Giveaway by Sheri

Sheri — Wed, 04 May 2011 16:07:02 +0000

Very interesting books this month!

Comment on Sales Rank Myths Busted – What Effects Changes in SalesRank by Edward G. Talbot

Edward G. Talbot — Tue, 03 May 2011 23:19:22 +0000

This is an informative post. However, I do not believe that it always takes three hours to impact sales rank. In February when I first launched my book, as soon as I knew it was live, I bought a copy. I tweeted it at the same time and two more copies sold instantly. The next hour, I had a rank of something like 11,000. This is for a kindle book. So it only took an hour for initial sales to take effect. Also, last month, I was featured on a site and this triggered a lot of sales, and my rank dropped a lot within 90 minutes of the post going up and the sales starting. This one I suppose you could argue that it may have actually gone live in some form earlier -in conjunction with my initial observation, though, this suggests that the 3 hour rule is not hard and fast.

Comment on Lesson Learned: Financial Motivations will Affect Book Sales by Rob Gainey

Rob Gainey — Tue, 03 May 2011 00:38:33 +0000

I agree, Well Said…. But truthfully, writing a book should never be about the money…it should be about the success, which isn’t always measured in dollars. A well-written book is a success from any standpoint and can spring other opportunities that aren’t immediately obvious. Success in one area can encourage you to be successful in others!

Comment on Author Central and NovelRank Sales Rank Tracking Comparison by admin

admin — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 15:52:46 +0000

James,
You’d have to include a link to your book on NovelRank. From what I’ve been told by some authors, the BookScan numbers can be way off (which is baffling to me). In the end, NovelRank estimates based on changes in salesrank, which only occurs on sales. refunds are not accounted for (because they are not reflected in sales rank)

Comment on Author Central and NovelRank Sales Rank Tracking Comparison by James

James — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 15:06:00 +0000

I’m still puzzled about the novelrank vs. bookscan comparison. Novelrank says 8 copies of my book sold in April. Bookscan says 1 (and at most 2 or 3 of those were kindle sales). The amazon salesrank has fluctuated (generally) between 100,000 and 700,000. Any insights?

Comment on Lesson Learned: Financial Motivations will Affect Book Sales by Tim Woods

Tim Woods — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 04:16:48 +0000

Well said and right on the money (figuratively).

Comment on Amazon.de Kindle Edition Sales Rank Tracking Now Available by metarachel

metarachel — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 23:11:46 +0000

Ranks don’t seem to be showing up on Amazon.de for Kindle books. I know I’ve made sales there because one of my books hit three different Top 100 lists, but it still has no rank. Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

Comment on Authors: Donate your Novel for Monthly Promotion and Giveaway! by PrincessReviews

PrincessReviews — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 20:31:57 +0000

Hello!
Our blogaversary is coming up May 16th, and we really need some books to host giveaways on! Donations would really be accepted and appreciated!
Look us up on facebook or twitter, or email us at princessreviews@aol.com for more information.
Thank you!

Comment on Sales Rank Myths Busted – What Effects Changes in SalesRank by admin

admin — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 22:49:46 +0000

Melissa,
My trick has always been substitute “causes” for effect and “influences” for affect. In the case of this post, these myths are finding what causes sales rank to change, so the usage is correct. If you feel otherwise and can explain it, I am more than happy to fix a grammatical error!

Comment on Sales Rank Myths Busted – What Effects Changes in SalesRank by Melissa

Melissa — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 22:08:19 +0000

I’d feel so much better about trusting these myth-busters if you were using the word “affect” properly. You mean to say: “What affects changes in sales rank?” Thanks.

Comment on Sales Rank Check Frequency Changes – Growing Pains by admin

admin — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 17:22:12 +0000

Carol,
You can enter your ASIN or Amazon link on the track page again and NovelRank will rescan to see if the book is available at any domains that were not previously added.

Comment on Sales Rank Check Frequency Changes – Growing Pains by Carol Davis Luce

Carol Davis Luce — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 17:14:51 +0000

Mario, I was wondering why three of my five novels being tracked do not have the UK Amazon stats along with the US stats? The ones not showing UK rankings are:
Night Prey
Night Passage
Skin Deep

Carol Davis Luce

Comment on Sales Rank Check Frequency Changes – Growing Pains by Mark Williams

Mark Williams — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 21:04:11 +0000

Mario, I emailed you with our March sales figures (Sugar & Spice – Saffina Desforges) as per request from earlier discussion. Not sure if they got through to you?

You have us down as approx 1000 sales across AmUs and AmUK last month.

We actually sold a fraction under 15000.

You have us at about 100 sales so far this month. Actual sales this month are already approaching 3000.

Happy to provide verification and more detailed break down if that will help.

We are launching a second title on Kindle in the next week or so, which will provide additional tracking information for comparison.

Cheers,

Comment on Tracking Kindle Sales Rank for Kindle Books Now Available (Again) by tom leitch

tom leitch — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:04:06 +0000

I can’t find my kindle book ranking titled
“Shamrocks, Trolls, Angels and Drunks”.
Can you help?
Tom

Comment on Sales Rank Check Frequency Changes – Growing Pains by admin

admin — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 22:22:54 +0000

Hey Mark,
NovelRank makes it very clear that they are sales estimates, and the FAQ states that they are dramatically underestimated for books that sell more than 100 copies a month.
NovelRank watches SALES RANK fluctuations, and thus at very good rankings, it is very hard to determine a sale (it’s a very big guess to say how many books must be sold in an hour to maintain say a rank of 100).
I’m sorry that people don’t read, and I’ll see if there is anything else I can do to make it clearer when this threshold is passed.

Comment on Sales Rank Check Frequency Changes – Growing Pains by Mark Williams

Mark Williams — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 22:13:18 +0000

Utterly bewildered by novelrank.

We’ve been accused of giving out false figures for ours sales after novelrank apparently informed the public we had sold just 299 copies of our e-book on Amazon UK in March (this as of March 15).

Given our book is in the top five in the Kindle store and sells more than that every day this has led to all manner of problems.

Apparently you even quoted the number one ranking title on Am UK as having sold just over 300 this month.

What is going on?

Mark Williams, co-author Sugar & Spice by Saffina Desforges,

Comment on Featured Book Donation Drive – Spring 2011 by Judy Zuklie

Judy Zuklie — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 15:17:26 +0000

Interested in using your ranking tool…where is your privacy policy located?

Comment on March 2011 Romantic Book Giveaway by Betty Gelean

Betty Gelean — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:27:53 +0000

Just a quick note that I review almost every book I read. I not only review them on my own review blog, but also on whatever sites I can locate the book on, such as Amazon.com/.ca, Chapters.indigo.ca, B&N, etc. whether I’m required to or not. I feel its only fair especially to those who donate their books to these giveaway sites to promote them. I really appreciate those who make these giveaways possible.

Comment on Sales Rank Myths Busted – What Effects Changes in SalesRank by admin

admin — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 22:39:20 +0000

Jenee:
pre-sales count as they effect sales rank, thus count just like any other sale. Regarding the best-seller list, no idea, as that is something independent for amazon. regarding collecting purchaser information, there is no way to input sales into Amazon. They automatically track sales made THROUGH amazon only.

Comment on Sales Rank Myths Busted – What Effects Changes in SalesRank by Jenee

Jenee — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 22:26:06 +0000

What about pre-sales? (1)Can you pre-sale your book on Amazon before the launch date? (2) Do the pre-sales count towards the best seller list on the launch date? (3)If you went to a tradeshow and collected purchasers information there, could you input it into Amazon?

Comment on Sales Rank Myths Busted – What Effects Changes in SalesRank by admin

admin — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 18:28:52 +0000

Jen:
Yes, with the exception of the Kindle specific return test, these were done with print books. Judging by the results and some other less formal testing, Kindle book purchases should reflect multiple sales as each one is a separate purchase (You can’t buy 3 copies of a Kindle book at once).

Comment on Sales Rank Myths Busted – What Effects Changes in SalesRank by Jen

Jen — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 12:58:02 +0000

Just wondering if you test for ranks effects by buying books was done with print books?

Does this also apply for buying kindles, or is one purchase all that will ever show no matter when you buy (or even gift) another.

Comment on Featured Book Donation Drive – Spring 2011 by admin

admin — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 20:12:37 +0000

There is no minimum for supporting the site. I’ve updated the post to reflect this properly.
Regarding donating a book for giveaway, the giveaway got backlogged quickly, so there is a year of books still to be given away, so I am not accepting new books at this time. Sorry!

Comment on Featured Book Donation Drive – Spring 2011 by Robyn Gant

Robyn Gant — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 20:08:43 +0000

Hi Mario,
love your website! I sent you a donation hoping to help boost your below-minimum current wage before I saw the requested $50.00 donation for a featured book requirement. I’ll see what my funds look like next month for this. I would like to donate a hardcopy of my novel for one of your giveaways. How would I do that?

Robyn Gant

Comment on Sales Rank Myths Busted – What Effects Changes in SalesRank by R. Scot Johns

R. Scot Johns — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 00:03:18 +0000

Hey Mario, thanks for the comment on my blog post. I’d love to see you test my myth, which for the benefit of readers here is:

“if you buy your way to the top, someone else will buy your book too.”

Okay, it’s not “my” myth, and I don’t actually subscribe to it. But it does seem to be a prevalent theory floating around these days.

Comment on Book Sales Rank – Understanding the Basics by admin

admin — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:45:52 +0000

That’s pretty strange Jay, and I don’t have an explanation. See the blog post about MYTHS and you’ll find it takes an actual sale to change salesrank, so that’s strange. Maybe bookscan is incorrect. Ask your publisher to check Amazon DTP directly (now called KDP).

Comment on Sales Rank Myths Busted – What Effects Changes in SalesRank by Leigh Russell

Leigh Russell — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:31:30 +0000

This is really helpful, thank you.

Comment on Book Sales Rank – Understanding the Basics by Jay

Jay — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 03:01:37 +0000

I am trying to find out whether Amazon has wrong information, or whether the sales rank is even more useless than I imagined.

According to Amazon, one of my books had a sales rank on Dec. 20 of 386,000, falling to 124k the next day. Over the following month, here are some of its ranks: Dec. 25: 200k; Dec. 29: 380k; Dec. 30: 78k; Dec. 31: 107k; Jan. 3: 338k; Jan. 5: 69k (best ranking to date); Jan. 9: 362k; Jan 11: 110k; Jan. 15: 76k; Jan 17: 421k; Jan 20: 108k

Not bad, I would think…but BookScan sales, which Amazon reports, state that from Dec. 20 through Jan. 20 there were…NO (0) SALES, at all. None. Based on my experience with, and what I thought I understood of, the sales ranks, this seems impossible. Amazon insists it is correct.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

Comment on January 2011 Giveaway: Featuring Progressive Press by Patricia Pickett

Patricia Pickett — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 21:58:59 +0000

I would love to win one of these books!!

Comment on Sales Rank Myths Busted – What Effects Changes in SalesRank by Melinda Clayton

Melinda Clayton — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 03:18:11 +0000

This information is SO helpful! Thank you so much for all you do to help us along in this process.
Melinda

Comment on Sales Rank Myths Busted – What Effects Changes in SalesRank by Maria Romana

Maria Romana — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 21:50:47 +0000

Thanks for sharing experiments with us. Any insight we can get into the magical, mythical world of the Amazon sales process is a great help.

–Maria

Comment on NovelRank Feature Upgrades for the End of 2010 by admin

admin — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 18:07:58 +0000

FYI: The picture used was taken by me this Christmas, when visiting family. It will be on Flickr for download (under Creative Commons: Attribution) later today tagged with the word ‘candles’ ‘Christmas’ and ‘flame’.

Comment on Author Central and NovelRank Sales Rank Tracking Comparison by admin

admin — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 22:03:18 +0000

Amazon has your book covers, as you put it, as different unique ASIN numbers, thus different pages on NovelRank. Email me directly at ADMIN at NOVELRANK dot COM with more info.

Also, have you made a user account to track all the books on a single page? http://novelrank.com/login.php

Comment on Author Central and NovelRank Sales Rank Tracking Comparison by Elisabeth

Elisabeth — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 15:53:38 +0000

Hi NovelRank: I was delighted to see that now my sales info can be viewed for U.S., Canada, and UK all at once. However, my UK data is not showing up…it seems to be linked to the wrong cover. So if I go to the UK page for my book there are sales, but the UK sales are not showing up on NovelRank at all.

Comment on December Giveaway: Time Flies Like Cow & The Pot Thief by Georgiann Hennelly

Georgiann Hennelly — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 22:53:02 +0000

Thanks for the great book offerings in this giveaway.

Comment on December Giveaway: Time Flies Like Cow & The Pot Thief by Christian Griffin

Christian Griffin — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 18:31:37 +0000

Thanks for the great giveaway!

Comment on Region Specific Books on NovelRank by admin

admin — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:48:36 +0000

Birgit:
FYI, the charts give you the option (drop-down menus above the chart) to look at a specific region’s rank only, rather than all of them. Since France and Japan are less popular and useful, I may provide a way to mark the book inactive for those specific domains, ceasing tracking where it is least helpful.

Comment on Region Specific Books on NovelRank by Birgit

Birgit — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:41:41 +0000

Another thing I’ve just noticed: Novelrank doesn’t really work well if you sell books from multiple domains. For example, a book of my strongest competitor (dealing with nonfiction here) has sold once or twice in France (in the span of 4 months), and sells daily in Germany. That makes the charts (expecially the Salesrank) unreadable, as well as screws up with the home page (Account management), where the (useless) French sales rank is shown.

Another idea, or just a tiny improvement would be to allow the average sales rank to be resetted or something. Or have any time period longer than a month and shorter than “forever”. I’ve added some books I’ve been totally excited about when they weren’t available yet (meaing sales rank in the millians), and that simply makes the numbers useles..

All the best, and thanks.

Comment on Region Specific Books on NovelRank by admin

admin — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 02:36:28 +0000

I don’t believe Italy and China yet have their API’s active, thus why they are not part of the system as of yet. In 2011 I’ll keep an eye out for new activations!

Comment on Region Specific Books on NovelRank by Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:30:13 +0000

Amazon Italy (Amazon.it) launched in November so now you have to consider whether you’re going to support it in the NovelRank system. It could be interesting.

Comment on Region Specific Books on NovelRank by Dirk van den Boom

Dirk van den Boom — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 14:08:54 +0000

I second Birgit’s suggestion of a German time-stamp.

Comment on November Giveaway: Wrong Number & Torture at the Back Forty by Sandra Dickey

Sandra Dickey — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 06:18:33 +0000

Won’t sleep at night if I win. I’ll be too rapt in a good book.

Comment on Region Specific Books on NovelRank by Birgit

Birgit — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 11:41:50 +0000

Hi, from Germany, and thank you for providing this service :-). I think that part of your rather strong fanbase here is the fact that we only have very few active author communities, and that spreads the word easily.
The only thing that I can think of is some kind of different time-stamp – for example for GMT or so..

Comment on Region Specific Books on NovelRank by Kgb

Kgb — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 11:02:58 +0000

For english (imported) books, the wrong sales rank is displayed. Actually, amazon.de has a own rank within english books (which is always lower than the extracted rank). This has no effect on the usefullness of your tool, but is good to know when comparing to the numbers at amazon.de

Comment on November Giveaway: Wrong Number & Torture at the Back Forty by jen

jen — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:52:19 +0000

Sounds like a fascinating and disturbing read. Hope to win! :)

Comment on November Giveaway: Wrong Number & Torture at the Back Forty by Crystal

Crystal — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 03:18:20 +0000

I would love to win!!! I love these types of books!! :)

Comment on November Giveaway: Wrong Number & Torture at the Back Forty by Louise Spring

Louise Spring — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 16:28:49 +0000

Look forward to reading both

Comment on November Giveaway: Wrong Number & Torture at the Back Forty by Mary Henderson

Mary Henderson — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 13:18:09 +0000

Great contest. I would love to read thses books.

Comment on November Giveaway: Wrong Number & Torture at the Back Forty by Patsy Hagen

Patsy Hagen — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 22:18:39 +0000

These two books sound like the type I would love to read. I’d get all snuggled up in bed and read them both none stop!
mom1248(at)att(dot)net

Comment on November Giveaway: Wrong Number & Torture at the Back Forty by Jo White

Jo White — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 18:28:49 +0000

Sounds good! On my TBR pile!!!