Amazon sales rank = how many books sold?

The Passive Guy over at the Passive Voice asked some questions, including these:

So, here’s question #1: Is this a fair way of evaluating how well an ebook-only or mostly-ebook publisher performs for authors?

Question #2: While we’re discussing Amazon Best Sellers Rank, has anyone seen any credible discussions concerning how sales rank translates into dollars for indie authors? If you’re at 20,000 with a $2.99 ebook, are you making $500 per month from that book?

Or is Amazon’s algorithm too volatile to make it a useful gauge of the dollars coming in the door?

Question #3: Everybody knows that lots of ebooks have experienced sales spikes immediately after Christmas as new ereaders and tablets are packed with ebooks. What about other sales patterns? For example, do sales go up on the weekend when many people have more leisure time to read?

I've never had a publisher, so I don’t have any information to answer the first question. However, I do have 18 months of daily sales and rank data to address the second two questions.

So, first off, how many books sold does a given Amazon sales rank indicate?

Unfortunately, due to the hourly fluctuation of Amazon sales rank, we can't pin it down precisely. But I have enough data to make some generalizations for ranks between #333 and #100,000.

All the following data is for Amazon US sales rank only. Also, Amazon changes the ranking algorithms, so my results from six months or a year ago might not equate to what is happening today. I don't sell enough books in other markets or through B&N to have a sufficient data set.

Here's a chart of my Amazon Sales rank for my best selling novel, Dead Dwarves Don'tDance:

And here's a spreadsheet with sales and rank data for each month:

What can we determine from this data? Here's a table with some guesses:

Again, this is based on historical data over the last 18 months. Other author's results might be different.

Also, the estimates for months that showed a lot of fluctuation aren't as reliable as my months where my rank range was smaller.

As for Passive Guy's 3^rd question about sales patterns, I have not detected any daily patterns. The only yearly pattern I've seen is better sales around Christmas and a slump in Summer. I have not been able to identify any sales increases from any paid or free advertising, such as reviews, articles, and such.

Do my numbers align with yours? Do you have any other information about rank to sales and patterns?  Comment below if you do!

PS: And don't forget my Kickstarter project. If you want a signed poster of the cover of Dead Dwarves Don't Dance, please check it out. You'll be helping me commission another great cover for the sequel.

Kickstarter experiment to fund cover for sequel: poster for you

One of the biggest hurdles for a self-publishing author is the initial monetary investment to get an ebook published. I’m talking about cover art and editing. Costs for these range from $50 to $2,000 or more. But you can often tell the difference between the cheap path and the expensive path.

My costs are $500 for cover and about $1000 for editing. That's $1500 per book up front, and it can take months to recoup that (at least for me).

One of the best things about getting a publisher is that they foot those bills instead of the author.

But what about us self-publishing authors? What if we don't have a couple grand laying around. That means we have to cut corners, and maybe settle for a cover that we don't really like.

Well, I'm going to conduct an experiment for my next book. I just started a Kickstarter project for the sequel to my cyberpunk novel, Dead Dwarves Don't Dance. I want to see if Kickstarter is an effective way to get some upfront funding without having a publisher.

The goal of the campaign is to raise $1,350 to get the cover art for the sequel. That amount includes $500 for the cover and $850 for the reward fulfillment. Any pledges above the goal go toward paying for the editing. If there's even more than that, I'll try some advertising maybe.

Anyone who pledges $1 or more will get a reward. There are different rewards for different pledge levels, including $1, $5, $10, $25, $30, $50, $100, and $200. Each reward level includes the rewards from the lower reward levels.

The primary reward in my project is at the $25 and is for a signed poster of the cover of Dead Dwarves Don't Dance. If the project succeeds, I'll get 250 of these printed up. That'll most likely leave me with a bunch to use at any conventions I go to.

But there are several more rewards available.

$1 - Computer wallpaper
$5 - Your name in the sequel's acknowledgments
$10 - 8.5"x11" signed print of Dead Dwarves Don't Dance cover
$25 - 19"x27" signed poster of Dead Dwarves Don't Dance cover
$30 - Nook or Kindle version of sequel
$50 - Signed paperback of sequel
$100 - Your name in the sequel's dedication page
$200 - Your name used as the name of a character in the sequel

Each reward includes all the previous rewards.

If 54 people pledge $25, the project is a success!

You can get more details on my Kickstarter project page.

This project lasts until July 2, and you'll only be charged if it is 100% funded. IF the total pledges do not meet or exceed the $1,350 goal, then no one is charged and I receive no money.

So, if you're interested in Noose the genetically engineered dwarf mercenary, cyberpunk, science fiction, or this Kickstarter experiment, you should go check it out!

Click here to visit my Kickstarter page, see a video of me and some of the rewards, and maybe even make a pledge!

And I certainly won't mind if you retweet or link to this blog or my Kickstarter project page. I'll need all the help I can get to make sure this is a success. Thanks!

After the project is over I'll blog about the results.

ABOUT KICKSTARTER

If you haven't heard about Kickstarter, it's a crowd-sourcing service for almost any kind of project. There are projects for music videos, films, board games, video games, festivals, and all sorts of other products like (lucid dreaming masks, made in America underwear, wine racks, wristwatch ipod controllers, etc.)


There have been some really amazing success stories on Kickstarter., for example:

The Pebble, a wristwatch to control your iPad/Pod, had a goal of $100,000. But so many people loved the idea that it raised over $10 million from 68,929 backers!


The Flint and Tinder men's underwear project, which promises to product made in America quality underwear, and create 1 new job for every 1000 pair they sell a month, they hire an additional factory worker (they asked for $30k and got over $290k in pledges from 5,578 backers).


The Shadowrun Returns turn based video game, which I unfortunately missed out supporting. They asked for $400,000 and got $1.8 million from 32,276 backers.


Lots of successes up there on Kickstarter. So much, in fact, that I foresee crowd-sourcing services like it will have a significant impact on product development and manufacturing in the future. Entrepreneurs and inventors won't have to go find some rich person or company to fund their project. Instead, they'll get thousands of ordinary folk to pledge money.


A Kickstarter project is an all or nothing deal. That is, each project has a monetary goal (mine is $1,350). If the total pledges do not equal or exceed that goal by the deadline (usually a month or so), then no pledge money is given, no money is charged, and the project owner gets nothing. It's either 0% funded or 100%+ funded.


That's right. The pledges can exceed the goal, and for most projects this unlocks stretch goals or additional rewards.


But what do you get if you pledge money and back a project?


All projects have "rewards" that will receive based on how much you pledge. Higher pledges usually get you better rewards.

If this sounds like a cool deal to you, please check out my project, especially if you want a signed poster of the cover of Dead Dwarves Don't Dance. And, tell all your friends! I just need 54 people to pledge $25, and with your help I can reach that.

April sales report

April was my 19th month selling ebooks. I haven't posted a sales report in a few months. Work has been very busy, and I've been trying to concentrate on writing more. Plus, my sales declining quite a bit, which doesn't make reporting on them any fun. ;)

As you can see from the graphs below, my sales are dropping down to about the same level as February of last year. What's causing this decline? It might be my infrequent publishing schedule, a different Amazon ranking algorithm, increased competition, or some other cause. Whatever the case, I'm hoping that it turns around when I publish the sequel to Dead Dwarves Don't Dance later this year. Until then, I expect to have a pretty lean year, as sales will probably decline even more during the summer months.

How about you? How are your sales doing compared to last year? Am I the only one seeing these declines? Let me know in the comments.

 

Dead Dwarves Don't Dance now available in paperback

Want a paperback edition of Dead Dwarves Don't Dance? Just click here for the $9.99 trade paperback!

Noose, a genetically engineered dwarf mercenary, barely survives a terrorist attack on a neohuman dance club. Injured and alone, he embarks on a brutal quest for vengeance into the squalid underbelly of the Regional Atlanta Metroplex, through the desert wasteland of the not-so-pristine wilderness, and to the peerless towers of elite society.

The year is 2134. The nations of previous centuries are gone, consumed by the United Globe government. Citizens are confined to vast metroplexes while the rest of Earth is restored to wilderness. Neohumans are grown in vats, each type genetically engineered to serve humanity – flawless pleasers for gratification and ecstasy, hulking goons for war and violence, accidental psykers wreaking havoc, and more of any shape and size imaginable.

An action-packed, hard-boiled science fiction novel of redemption and revenge.
Praise for Dead Dwarves Don't Dance:

"cyberpunk action worth reading"

"Louis L'Amour meets Philip K. Dick"

"of the style of a Schwarzenegger or Stallone movie"

"excellent characters in a riveting world"

"difficult to put down"

"very fun and quick read"

"Fantastic action!"
"Action at it's best"

Where Magic Reigns now in paperback!

Where Magic Reigns, book 2 of the Tales of Zura is now available in paperback!

You can buy it here.

After their harrowing adventures in The Elemental Odyssey, four twelve-year-olds find themselves on a strange alien world. No grown-ups, no park rangers, no policemen, no soldiers. They are utterly alone and at the mercy of the furious perils that teem in the jungles of Zura.

As they flee across soaring islands in the sky, Kyle Morgan, Jürgen Schmidt, Susie Five Eagles, and Veeksha Das meet several different kinds of Zurans. But these aren’t the familiar and furry creatures that invaded Earth. These are scaly reptiles, small and large, but all hungry.

Unfortunately for the kids, on Zura humans are made out of food.

Dead Dwarves sequel writing report

Despite getting a cold today, I managed to write another 10,000 words on the sequel to Dead Dwarves Don't Dance this weekend. Looks like I'm finally back in the groove.

Hopefully, I can get 1,000 words each day after work, and around 10,000 on the weekends. Maybe I can get a first draft done in a month or two.

Expendables 2 trailer = WOW!

2012 is going to get a whole fistful of the 1980s!!!

I'm a huge 80s action film fan, and this Expendables 2 trailer is, to quote Margaret Thatcher, "HOLY FREAKING AWESOME!"

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=89861

Stallone
Schwarzenegger
Willis
Norris
Van Damme
Lundgren
Statham
Li
Crews
Couture
Hemsworth

August 17

Be there!