Bisky's Twitterling's Scribbles! discussion

So, question to everyone who has self-published: how often do you check your sales?

I'm going to admit something here. My book came out on May 19, and I haven't checked my sales numbers past the end of May because that's when I got paid. I have been keeping tabs on how many reviews and ratings I get, but that's about it.

I can't decide if I'm being a chicken or if I'm being smart. The reviews are what bump the promotions on Amazon, so I've been plugging away with asking book bloggers to review and keeping up my social media presence.

The reason I'm asking is because I've had a couple writer friends whom I've told this to, and they were like, "Wait, no, what?" Both wanted to know the results of the book blitz I did at the end of June). I said I haven't checked, and they were like, "Wait, what? You have to check."

I haven't. I don't want to. I'm afraid, but I also feel like it's a waste of time to obsess over how many sales I get a day/week/month and I'm prone to obsessing.

What do you guys think?

I do it everyday to update my spreadsheet. That's purely because I have a permafree out there and I'm intrigued by the fluctuations, which show no real consistency. Before that I tended to wait for my monthly statements from the indie publisher.

I check a couple times a week. When I've done KDP Select promos I would track it several times throughout the day to see if I noticed any kind of peak buying behavior and to get a feel for how effective KDP Select was. (I've since abandoned KDP to explore other options)

Anyway, I like to tabs on it to see how things are working and see if I need to make any adjustments. For example, I just redid some of my book descriptions to make them more searchable so I'm checking regularly to see if I notice a difference.

I wouldn't know how to check sales. How do you do it - just for laughs!

On average, once a week. Sometimes less than that. Since I'm a new author and only have one book out that's part of a trilogy, I don't expect my sales to be huge even with promotions and all that.

Oh, every couple of hours. More if I have a promotion or something.

I have a problem, I know.

I check my amazon kindle sales most days, but as I only sell 2-3 books a month I get all giddy when I see something has sold! Hopefully when I can convince Amazon to price match the first in the series I'll get more sales

R. wrote: "I check my amazon kindle sales most days, but as I only sell 2-3 books a month I get all giddy when I see something has sold! Hopefully when I can convince Amazon to price match the first in the se..."

I know what you mean. That lone spike to the one-unit line on the KDP dashboard is a beautiful thing

I check daily, unless I have some sort of promotion going. Then its more often

Very interesting responses. I'm in the same boat as Shannon, as I only have one book out. So I guess there's nothing wrong with not checking sales numbers. But still, I feel like I'm being a bit of a chicken, even if I'm trying to justify it to myself as being smart and savvy and not getting wrapped up in numbers ...

Used to do it most days, but after a year I started checking only at the end of each month.
I still check the chart placings a lot, especially if I have a promotion or something going, then it's every hour!

Daily.
Okay, several times per day.
I have issues.

A while ago the same question was asked in another group. My answer hasn't changed.

How often do I check my sales?

Every time I feel like crying. :P

G.G. wrote: "A while ago the same question was asked in another group. My answer hasn't changed.

How often do I check my sales?

Every time I feel like crying. :P"

*spews tea*
G.G.!!!

But how does one check sales?

Several times a day, especially as RANA II has just hit Kindle.

No, what I mean is how do I check my sales.

David, on the KDP dashboard, click on REPORTS at the top of the page

I know the sales of my paperbacks as I am the only person selling them but my e book is not KDP so I'll have to wait until I hear from my distributor to find out how many downloads there have been on kindle - unless someone knows a way to find out?

R. wrote: "David, on the KDP dashboard, click on REPORTS at the top of the page"
Reports will show you a graph. Then click Month To Date Sales and this will show you actual numbers of paid, return, borrowed.

..how much you wanna bet we just created another Sales Addict?

Our job here is done :D

lol!

Awesome!

I check my sales, when my book was first out i checked my sales every day, i was so excited, and then so disappointed but on a learning curve. Now I focus on developing my social media. Buzzfeed/Google+ is amazing. 7,000 views of my Buzzfeed profile in 1 month, see, Buzzfeed is where to be.

I was only checking every couple of weeks for KDP, and every month for Smashwords and Nook. I only checked Createspace if I needed to go there to order books or work on a new book. Then I had a big increase in sales that started at the beginning of July. I've been checking daily since then because I'm curious about how it plays out. It's dying down now so I'll probably be back to every couple of weeks soon.

I usually check on a daily basis, and when I see a spike on the graph, I'll often check a couple times more that day. And I take a look hourly if my book is on a Kindle Countdown Deal.

That reminds me: a couple months ago I began to notice something that's a bit unexplainable. It seems every time my book drops down to the 400,000 - 500,000 mark in the rankings, I make another sale. Just one, which bumps it back up to 100,000. It's very strange, and I wonder if anyone else has noticed this with their own books?

I've just checked my Kindle sales. I do love the author page us authors get. I sold 4 paperback books of "I Need an Exorcism" to my Twitter pals because I was upset because I hadn't sold any books, my twitter friends bought a book and gave me a 5 star review. I've been in sales for 12 years and never used the 'pathetic' approach. I had no idea my twitter pals would buy my book because they felt sorry for me. remember the saying 'You find out who your friends are.'

Every morning, and I track by book and sales channel.

My first book comes out this Oct. and I just know I will be checking constantly. Now you have me wondering if I should hold back and let things be?

Every day, both Kindle and paperback.

And it never moves... never moves an inch. I have a disease, and whisky is the cure.

every day and every day not much progress but it is going in the right direction. My book is out there that's the main thing. But then I found Google +, that is a serious social media platform. So my cat Tiddles is quite a Google+ star now, she got 100 plus ones once. In the meanwhile I am considering equity release

that's because when someone buys your book and the other books haven't had a sale your book catapults up the sales chart even with just one sale. Check out Google+ it's great for traffic

i gave my Kindle version away free for a few days. My book shot up the ranking and I gave away about 150 books. But I didn't get any sales as a result of giving it away. i've priced mine as low as possible. they are NOT getting it FREE again. If they want to read it they will pay £1.50.

I see free as a marketing tool, one that works best if you have multiple works. As in, I'm giving you Book A for free as a way to market Book B, which you will pay for if you liked Book A enough.

I don't check often these days. I have not had much success with my first venture, so far, and it was honestly just depressing seeing how few people were buying it, despite my promoting it. If they buy it they buy it, I just don't like see the proof of people not doing so. It derails morale.

I don't really check it often, probably no more than once per week. Like Catherine, I wait for the notification about a payment hitting the bank.

I am kind of embarrassed to say... All the time. I'm obsessed. Haha!

I don't have self-deposit so yeah I check often.

Ty wrote: "I don't check often these days. I have not had much success with my first venture, so far, and it was honestly just depressing seeing how few people were buying it, despite my promoting it. If they..."

Hi Ty. Google+ is a great social media platform. What I've learned about social media purely as a result of marketing my book. Twiiter is a good platform. Google+ you can put countless words on. I put on extracts from my book. Good luck.

Sales what sales? Only People close to you buy For sentimental reasons, I agree very depressing

Polly wrote: "Ty wrote: "I don't check often these days. I have not had much success with my first venture, so far, and it was honestly just depressing seeing how few people were buying it, despite my promoting ..."

Thanks for your thoughts. I am on Twitter, I have not yet delved into Google Plus. Perhaps I'll look into it.

Darren wrote: "Sales what sales? Only People close to you buy For sentimental reasons, I agree very depressing"
I wouldn't say for me it was only people close to me. And plenty of people close to me did not buy it. But overall the numbers are not what I hoped. But it's there as long as I want it to be, so there's that.

S. wrote: "I see free as a marketing tool, one that works best if you have multiple works. As in, I'm giving you Book A for free as a way to market Book B, which you will pay for if you liked Book A enough."

thank you for that helpful comment. I was joking with my comment but £1.50 is not a lot of money . When I gave it away free I was expecting more people to buy it but there weren't any people bought it as a result. It'll be a while before I write another book.

Ty wrote: "Polly wrote: "Ty wrote: "I don't check often these days. I have not had much success with my first venture, so far, and it was honestly just depressing seeing how few people were buying it, despite..."
Hi Ty. By the time you have learnt as much as I've learned about social media, I have been working really hard on my social media, I can spend 8 hours on Google+ tidying my profile, you will have another asset for your curriculum vitae. I have had 12 years in sales so I am at an advantage in selling my book. Look at other people's G+ profiles. And good luck

I have two free ebooks to help with My sales, well that IS what i hoped, keep trying?

But it's not about selling is it? It's about writing, keeping going and being compelled to write. Thousands of ebooks sink like stones, so don't worry. One day someone will buy a book - or even download a free one - and you'll be delighted - for a few days at least.

David wrote: "But it's not about selling is it? It's about writing, keeping going and being compelled to write. Thousands of ebooks sink like stones, so don't worry. One day someone will buy a book - or even ..."

I think it's about both. At least for me, it is about people reading and enjoying what I write. If they are not buying or selecting my work, it's not getting read. Like anyone, I want to make money doing that I am good at and enjoy, but setting that aside, I want readers to read my offerings.

Ty wrote: "David wrote: "But it's not about selling is it? It's about writing, keeping going and being compelled to write. Thousands of ebooks sink like stones, so don't worry. One day someone will buy a b..."

I am with you on that. I check mine at least once a week for marketing reasons. It's always good to know or try to figure out why you did well that week. Being someone like me, who is just starting out, I am trying to lean as much as I can about why people are compelled to take an interest one week and why they are not the next. Sometimes I learn absolutely nothing, but there have been times where I have learned a lot.