How many copies sold make a bestseller?

annetpfeffer · Aug 26, 2011

How many copies do you have to sell to make the Kindle bestseller lists? How does this compare to the number of copies required to make the NY Times bestseller list?

shaldna · Aug 26, 2011

There is no real easy way to answer this because it's all very variable.

If you spend some time looking at the lists, either print or digital, then you will see that there are some weeks where a thousand copies will land you quite high in the print lists. It's the same with digital, some weeks the overall sales will be really high, some weeks not so much.

What I'm trying to say is that some weeks it will take more copies than other weeks to land on the lists.

annetpfeffer · Aug 26, 2011

???

shaldna said:
There is no real easy way to answer this because it's all very variable.

If you spend some time looking at the lists, either print or digital, then you will see that there are some weeks where a thousand copies will land you quite high in the print lists. It's the same with digital, some weeks the overall sales will be really high, some weeks not so much.

What I'm trying to say is that some weeks it will take more copies than other weeks to land on the lists.

Where do you find lists that show the number of copies sold? When I google this, I only get rankings.

areteus · Aug 26, 2011

I think the point is that the lists are based on proportions of total sales for all sales made. Some weeks, if the sales are low overall, then a relatively small number of sales will get you on that list. Other weeks, when the total sales are high, you have to sell more to get there.

As either D'Isreali or Mark Twain (who ever you beleive actually said it first) there are lies, damn lies and statistics

shaldna · Aug 27, 2011

annetpfeffer said:
Where do you find lists that show the number of copies sold? When I google this, I only get rankings.

I think amazon only have sales rank and list, no numbers.

I get my print numbers from teh Bookseller.

TLPhillps · Aug 27, 2011

Okay I did a quick Google search and this is probably far and wide the best explanation I found. Good Luck and Happy Writing!

http://www.midwestbookreview.com/bookbiz/advice/bestlist.htm

Old Hack · Aug 27, 2011

A friend of mine who writes crime thrillers sold over 2,500 copies hardback in his first week on sale in the UK earlier this year, and hit the best-seller lists.

When the book came out in paperback, it did about the same.

annetpfeffer · Aug 27, 2011

Great article!

TLPhillps said:
Okay I did a quick Google search and this is probably far and wide the best explanation I found. Good Luck and Happy Writing!

http://www.midwestbookreview.com/bookbiz/advice/bestlist.htm

The article was really informative -- thanks!

James D. Macdonald · Aug 27, 2011

annetpfeffer said:
Where do you find lists that show the number of copies sold? When I google this, I only get rankings.

The only true datum you can get from Amazon sales ranks is that no sales rank at all = no copies sold through Amazon.

There are a couple of sites that pretend to show numbers sold. Those include NovelRank http://www.novelrank.com/track.php and MetricJunkie http://www.metricjunkie.com/Their results range from out-to-lunch to ludicrous. I strongly suspect that Amazon obfuscates their sale-rank data to keep from giving Barnes & Noble any useful information.

You'll get your actual numbers sold from the Kindle site and from Smashwords. Other people's numbers sold, you'll have guesswork, assumptions, hype, and foolishness.

James D. Macdonald · Aug 27, 2011

annetpfeffer said:
The article was really informative -- thank!

The article was really slanted and full of misinformation:

Whether you sell out to a publisher or publish yourself, the author must do the promotion.

Sell out?

But then, look who published that article: The Midwest Book Review.

annetpfeffer · Aug 31, 2011

Below is the link to a blog that summarizes what information about book sales is out there and where to find it. I don't have any way to evaluate the accuracy of the comments made, but I'm sure my clever forum colleagues will!

http://ask.metafilter.com/31252/How-many-copies-a-book-has-sold

Angkor · Sep 5, 2011

Kindle provides the author a monthly tally of ebooks sold, broken down by absolute numbers, royalty categories, royalties per title and total royalties, U.S., UK and German sales. It's very informative. Two of my books have been consistent paid genre Kindle bestsellers since late last year. I need to sell between 500 and 1200/month to make it onto at least one genre bestseller list. But, as stated earlier, it's based on proportionality, not absolute sales numbers.

Nook and other ebook retailers provide more basic sales data. Lightning Source provides fairly detailed data for both print and ebook sales.

DerekJCanyon · Sep 5, 2011

Dead Dwarves Don't Dance is in a few top #100 genre lists, but the best I achieved in the Amazon Kindle Best Sellers Rank was #333.

Here's a comparison of my daily sales and my matching Amazon Kindle Best Sellers Rank from November 2010 to September 2011.

So, I had to sell 126 copies in a day (and around 100 for a few days before that) to get to #333 in the best sellers rank.

I've been selling around 10-20 per day for a while now, and that gets me into the #5000-8000 rank range.

annetpfeffer · Sep 5, 2011

Derek -- I love your record keeping. Do you use a program to generate those charts?

I don't quite understand the sales ranking chart. What exactly are you tracking along the left side?

DerekJCanyon · Sep 5, 2011

Anne, thanks! I use Excel to make the black chart above. The white chart is from NovelRank, which tracks sales rank.

The left side is the Amazon Kindle Best Seller Rank. #1 is at the very bottom, and worse ranks go up from there (#20,000, #40,000 etc.). So, the orange line shows the sales rank for my novel over time.

How many copies sold make a bestseller?

annetpfeffer

practical experience, FTW

shaldna

The cake is a lie. But still cake.

annetpfeffer

practical experience, FTW

areteus

shaldna

The cake is a lie. But still cake.

TLPhillps

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

annetpfeffer

practical experience, FTW

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

annetpfeffer

practical experience, FTW

Angkor

practical experience, FTW

DerekJCanyon

annetpfeffer

practical experience, FTW

DerekJCanyon