Saturday, November 20, 2010

One Year Under a Million on Amazon.com



Tracking sales isn't something I obsess over, but I do follow a few trends. One of them is the Amazon.com Bestsellers Rank (for print).

Certainly Flank Hawk isn't going to be a NY Times Bestseller, and the odds of it cracking Amazon.com's (or even Barnes & Noble's) Top 100 Sellers are very, very, very long. But, for a title released by a small publisher (in this case Gryphonwood Press), sales must be decent and steady to keep from rising above the 1 million mark. The exact formula and impact of individual and multiples sales isn't something I've tried to solve. In my estimation, however, a sale can drop (improve) the ranking to around 100,000, with multiple sales being increasingly required to drop the number further--there is a definite steepening curve. It would take about 10 to 12 days to rise above one million, depending on the briskness of sales at Amazon.com. I also think with increasing numbers of books available, the increasing use of online purchases and the march toward the Christmas season, the rate of slide upward in ranking has increased since Flank Hawk's release in late October of 2009.

For those interested, the lowest (best sales rank) Flank Hawk ever achieved was 27,171. The highest was 936,329. I check once a day, and not always at the same time, so the highs and lows may have been slightly higher or slightly lower. And from what I can tell, the rank increases about 100,000 per day when an apparent sale isn't registered.

I know those stats aren't great, but I think they're respectable. Each sale equals another reader who gave Flank Hawk a chance. What prompted me to post on this today (I have another post in the bullpen, but it will obviously be delayed) is that when I checked this morning, Flank Hawk was down to 64,817. It hasn't ranked that well since November 25, 2009, one month after its release.

So, to those readers out there today and since Flank Hawk's release , whoever you are, a BIG THANKS from me and I hope you enjoy(ed) Krish's tale!
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7 comments:

  1. That's interesting information, Terry. And I congratulate you on continuing to sell more than a year after your release.

    Flank Hawk is definitely worth a read, and honestly, lately I've been itching to read it again. It's been a good nine months since I read it, and I'd like to go back to Krish and the gang.

    However, I am in the midst of a long overdue and taking-too-long reading of the Dune series (again), so Flank Hawk will have to come after that.

    In the meantime, I'm heading back to school to get my Bachelor's degree, so I'll probably run into a lot of potential readers to whom I'll recommend the book.

    Is #2 still in the works?

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  2. J. Jones,

    I am glad you found the post of interest!

    I recall reading the Dune series some years back. The untimely death of Frank Herbert occurred just after my favorite character in the series, Gurney Halleck returned to action in the series. Flank Hawk being placed behind Herbert's Dune series. Great works and fully understood! :)

    Best of luck in your studies--definately worth it. And thank you for your kind words and willingness to recommend Flank Hawk.

    Finally, yes, the sequel to Flank Hawk is well into being written and my publisher is waiting for it.

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  3. Sales sound like they are still climbing. You've been active promoting the book and yourself in the past year. Your product is good quality, word of mouth will get around, so expect sales to continue to climb.

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  4. Sandy, thank you for the supportive words. I do what I can, and it is good to hear again that Flank Hawk is a good product!

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  5. True. It has the elements of a classic quest narrative, but is set in a fantastic world with a fresh premise. And the characters just jump off the page from the beginning.

    Yes, Frank Herbert's death was unfortunately timed, as are those of most people, no matter their age. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have done a good job with the series since then, and while they write differently, the tone and voice are reminiscent of Frank's. And I feel they have done a good job with the series, so I enjoy it as a whole.

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  6. J. Jones, that was one thing I hoped to do was to offer readers a world unlike others I'd come across.

    I've been hesitant to pick up the Dune books by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson, but if you say they're pretty good, I'll have re-assess putting them on my list...but that'd mean I should probably read the originals first. That'd certainly add to the current TBR stack. :o

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  7. You can do it either way, actually. I bought the original series about four years ago and read them, then found out about the others and started at the beginning of Dune time.

    I happen to think it better almost to read Frank's first because Brian and Kevin went back and explained much of the back story from the original Dune, like Leto's father's death in a bullfight, for example. It's only mentioned like twice in the original book but it's a scene in one of the later-published ones.

    Lee Masterson is also a big fan of the new ones, I believe. I'm pretty sure it was she who told me about the new ones.

    Brian and Kevin write differently, and the newer books read faster, I think. But the tone is unmistakeably Dune.

    I particularly like the Legends of Dune series because it starts right where Dune should start: The Butlerian Jihad against the Thinking Machines.

    It's just an awesome tale, and if I had only those three forever it would be good enough. But it's better with all of them. :)

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