THE Group for Authors! discussion

Hello, Fellow Authors!

My novel is slated to publish this coming Tuesday, and I've been promoting my pre-order period for the last few weeks. Although I'm sure there are sales through various channels (Amazon, BN.com, etc.), I have also had a good number of direct sales via my website. Before I invest a bit of time into researching how I might be able to report my direct sales to Nielsen BookScan, I thought I'd check in with this seasoned group.

Anyone know how / where to go to report direct sales? I do also keep an online resale book shop, so thought I might approach it that way, if I ran into trouble as an individual author, but that's as far as I've gotten. Any experience, advice or point in the right direction would be amazing!

Thanks so much!
H.R. Young-Lira

Keep me in the loop for replies to your message. I am an indie author who sells direct also. Factoring in ALL sales is a difficult task, and almost impossible. If there is a way for an algorithm to keep track of ALL the sales, I want to know about it.

90% of my sales are direct sales. When I contacted Bookscan not just as an author, but also being my own Indie Imprint, I didn't even get a response from Bookscan...I don't know if others have had better luck.

For those of you who are first-time indie authors, now is when you need to have a process for tracking your sales. For instance, tally the number of books you ordered, and where they go. Some for marketing? Who got them. Some on consignment? Who has them and follow up for payment. Some in a cupboard in your home? Set up author events. Be relentless. Watch for price changes on Amazon and be ready with a response when potential buyers ask why your price in person is higher. I don't really care about the Amazon tracking data because for me the only "real" info I have is: first, how many books I sold in person, and second, how many books are listed on my royalty monthly royalty report. By being relentless I have sold far more books of fiction beyond the "100 copy average" reported in publishing news.

Sarah wrote: "For those of you who are first-time indie authors, now is when you need to have a process for tracking your sales. For instance, tally the number of books you ordered, and where they go. Some for m..."

I agree totally...I keep a running tally, hardcover, paperback, and ebook format for each book for the year. At the end of the year I archive the current year and add it to my running tally...I know how many of each version I've sold as well as total sales and how much I've received NET profit...I've only given a way a few copies, but I've got something in exchange. For instance, I have a letter from the Pope, I have a video of Sean Astin reading from the first of my dragon series, I have a number of photo-op with celebrities, and Nichelle Nichols herself told me she's reading the books I gave her and she's a fan...those things aren't monetary, but they're still very valuable to me...

Thanks, Stanley. I wish someone had told me about keeping detailed track of sales when I brought out my first book in 2005. I was too giddy to have finished it and published it and that people bought it and liked my writing voice, I didn't realize what the information might mean in the future. Now I do! Geez, "a letter from the Pope...".
Wow!

And I've learned over time that anytime you can get a picture with a celebrity, take it, and if at all possible, include your book in the picture, preferably in their hands. These photo-ops are called "implied endorsements". While they never claim to have read your book, their fans will think they have, and like the girl who buys the designer purse because their favorite movie star has one, there's a chance they'll buy your book for the same reason. Being in L.A. helps me get access, but even tough I have fewer than I should...below are example of how I use them on my website:

http://www.stanleythorntonbooks.com\r...
http://www.stanleythorntonbooks.com\p...

It's been a few days, so I've shifted looking into this up on my priority list - I hope to at least find out any parameters/ requirements for Nielsen to accept Bookscan reporting. I know that at least for other types of data, there are minimum thresholds and usually membership access required in order to report or provide any input at all. I'm thinking this may be the kink in the chain, but I'd like to confirm. I'll share if/when I can find out more.

Circling back to provide an update on this. I heard back from my contacts at Nielsen, and it turns out that they divested Bookscan to NPD (https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us...) which is why a) it took a bit of time and digging before we heard anything back, and b) anyone who has tried to contact directly hasn't heard back. My next step is to contact NPD and see where that gets me. Will provide an update when I have one. Thanks!

I found this thread and was wondering if anyone else had had issues with the NPD bookscan feature in Amazon (Author Central US)?

At first I got nothing reported, then for a window of a few months, my sales were showing up and also where they were in the states. This feature is a lot of fun. Then I reissued one of my books under my own imprint, Singing Frog Publishing, and the reported data just stopped.

I've tried contacting NPD via their website but a glitch tells you to fill out the 'work' email details even when I have. I can't find anyway to contact them. Does anyone have an email address for them - has anyone else had problems with this reporting feature not working?

Thanks!