Author Topic: Author Central by Amazon. Accurate? (Read 2176 times)

SYoon · « **on:** April 04, 2012, 10:46 AM »

For authors with published books, do you find that Author Central is close to accurate with your book sales? I realize it does not cover library sales, club sales, special sales, Walmart, or online sales... but does it give you a good indication?

I've never compared the numbers with actual royalty statements, so I have no idea how accurate they are. But I do love the ease and immediacy to this data in one central location. While various publishers are now offering author portals to get sales numbers on demand, I like Author Central because you can access ALL your books, and not just the ones from one particular house. But I wonder if the author portals are more accurate? Anyone signed up for those? (I haven't bothered yet.)

Who likes? Dislikes? Do you find the numbers helpful? I find them interesting,... but sometimes it's also depressing! When you see "0 copies were sold between...," it's disheartening. But when there's an uptick because of a holiday or something, it's also very encouraging. And it's fun seeing the breakdown of sales by city/state.

What are your experiences?

Kurtis · « **Reply #1 on:** April 04, 2012, 11:22 AM »

They are similar to the point sales I see directly from Random House, but are such a discouragingly low percentage of real sales that I should stop looking at either one.

Michaela MacColl · « **Reply #2 on:** April 04, 2012, 12:44 PM »

I believe Author Central gets their numbers from Bookscan -- my agent won't use bookscan because they don't reflect so much of our market... ie institutional sales, bookfairs, etc.

Jo Knowles · « **Reply #3 on:** April 05, 2012, 05:56 AM »

I really like Author Central because it allows you to go to your book page and make changes (for example, the wrong book description was used for my new book, and I was able to pop right in and edit it). I also like that someone gets back to you very quickly when you have a question.

The book scan feature is fun when the books are doing well, horribly depressing when not. But I check once a week come what may. I have no willpower.

As for accuracy, I think they tend to be on the low side of actual sales, but I'm not sure how much. It depends on the book and whether it's being heavily marketed in the areas book scan doesn't cover.

Hope this helps,

Jo

KateMessner · « **Reply #4 on:** April 05, 2012, 06:03 AM »

I had originally heard that Bookscan captured about 50% of sales for most kids' books, which can sell heavily in markets that aren't measured (library, book fairs, etc.) From what I've seen so far, it's even less than that - probably more like 25-35% for most of my books. But I think it may vary a lot by genre and the kind of book - mine do tend to sell most to schools & libraries.

Kurtis · « **Reply #5 on:** April 05, 2012, 07:52 AM »

All right, I did a little math using bookscan numbers and real sales from my royalty statement. About 22% of my sales are shown on bookscan. So it depends on the book, obviously, but bookscan numbers for me just don't tell the story.

Megan · « **Reply #6 on:** April 05, 2012, 08:15 AM »

I haven't gotten any royalty statements for my second book yet, but for my first, Booksacn only covers about a third of the sales (and this is for a book that wasn't in Walmart or book clubs or what have you, so I'd guess the rest are school/library, online, and foreign--I sell a fair bit in Canada).

literaticat · « **Reply #7 on:** April 05, 2012, 08:26 AM »

Bookscan numbers show what is actually being sold at almost all retail stores -- one customer, at the cash register, cha-ching. It doesn't show what the bookstore bought and is sitting around not selling -- it shows what ACTUALLY SOLD. It is absolutely accurate FOR THAT. What it doesn't show, as has been mentioned, are schools, libraries, bookclubs, bookfairs, special sales, bulk sales, many gift shops, and notably among retail stores, WalMart.

One of my publishing friends pulled a big selection of titles across all categories, all types of books, from her publisher and compared the REAL numbers to the bookscan numbers. She found that the bookscan numbers were, as you can imagine, all on the low side. (Obviously, because it is real sales but not all sales, the bookscan number will never show you a too HIGH number). And I've done the same with my own royalty statements.

HOW OFF ARE THEY?

Varies wildly across the board, but depending on the book, anywhere from 10% to 85% INACCURATE.

In other words... don't give yourself a nervous breakdown over it.

SYoon · « **Reply #8 on:** April 05, 2012, 12:00 PM »

Thanks for all the input. It's off by way more than I thought---and that's good to know.

And Kurtis,... if Bookscan numbers are consistently at around 20% of your actual sales, the numbers could still help you see the trend... if it can be measured that way. But it's probably not consistent,... so not helpful at all.

One thing about publisher royalty statements that's annoying is that sometimes your sales actually goes down on the next statement (due to returns). That's always a bummer. Of course this is because it shows sales to bookstores who can return them. Bookscan numbers at least can't go down!

writerjenn · « **Reply #9 on:** April 05, 2012, 08:48 PM »

Bookscan is great for giving you a minimum number. That is, if it says you sold 10,000 copies, your publisher shouldn't claim you only sold 5,000. (There is a lag in the royalty statement, though.)
Publishers pay you on books shipped, less reserve. If the stores actually sell their copies and don't return them, then your reserve will go down and you get more money on the royalty statement. But if they're returned, that's when the numbers on the royalty statement go down instead of up.
So the true number of books sold lies somewhere between the Bookscan number and the total number of shipped copies on the royalty statement!

Kurtis · « **Reply #10 on:** April 06, 2012, 09:04 AM »

Syoon, no, the numbers are pretty variable.

I'm guessing not many people will actually be lied to by their publisher and use the bookscan numbers to trump them, but who knows.

Joni · « **Reply #11 on:** April 06, 2012, 01:19 PM »

Quote from: Kurtis on April 06, 2012, 09:04 AM

I'm guessing not many people will actually be lied to by their publisher and use the bookscan numbers to trump them, but who knows.

I think it's more a matter of catching errors... my former agent has practically had to throw hammers to get a book club rights sale to show up correctly on my statements, and so far, she hasn't been successful. It kinda sounds like royalty accounting is performed by monkeys with banana pens, not, yanno, electronic databases and bar codes and stuff, so I don't blame authors who are dubious of reporting that we have few ways of validating.

writerjenn · « **Reply #12 on:** April 08, 2012, 07:17 PM »

Yeah, it isn't consistent. I have heard of Bookscan capturing anywhere from a third to almost 100% of sales--depends on the book and the format.

When I say that it's a good minimum number, and the royalty statement gives the maximum number, I don't necessarily mean that publishers would try to rip off their authors (although I have heard of errors). The two sources, taken together, are just a good way to figure out your actual sales and project your income.

Say if Bookscan says you sold 10,000 copies, and your publisher shipped 35,000 and got 5,000 in returns. You know you have sold at least 10K, and that there are 20K more out there for sale. Worst case, all of those 20K are returned; short-term best case, all 20K sell. The short-term reality is probably somewhere in the middle. (Long-term best case: if the book does well enough, the returned copies may go back out and sell too, and maybe there will be subsequent printings, so sales can eventually exceed 35K. But that would probably be beyond the range of the next royalty statement, unless it's really selling like gangbusters.)

You know for sure that 10K sold, and they're not coming back to the publisher no matter what. You hope that the other 20K still out there will sell. If they're selling in Walmart or to libraries, Bookscan won't help you. But if they're mostly selling at B&N and Amazon, you can watch Bookscan to get an idea how fast those 20K are moving.

Angie Smibert · « **Reply #13 on:** June 05, 2012, 10:04 PM »

I asked this question of Amazon author relations recently. ( My pub Marshall Cavendish got bought by Amazon.) Her answer (and she should know) was pretty much what people have said here. Bookscan does not include library, walmart, ebooks, and a fair number of bookstores. And the stores who do report aren't consistent. So bookcan can be way low.

Lyon · « **Reply #14 on:** June 06, 2012, 08:07 AM »

90% of my books' sales are through specialty and gift stores, so the only numbers that seem to show up on Author Central in terms of sales are the sales directly through Amazon. My royalty statement are broken down by retailer, so I have a fairly accurate idea of where books sell.

I am guilty of checking my amazon sales on an almost daily basis. It's like a fix when the numbers jump up.

Jean Reidy · « **Reply #15 on:** June 06, 2012, 08:45 AM »

Does Bookscan on Author Central show total sales anywhere? Or just the 4 and 8 week sales?

KatyD · « **Reply #16 on:** June 08, 2012, 02:31 PM »

I was hoping someone would answer your question, Jean. It's something I've wondered about as well. Anyone?

writerjenn · « **Reply #17 on:** June 08, 2012, 03:01 PM »

Jean: My understanding is that there are versions of Bookscan for which you have to pay that do show total sales (of their reporting outlets--still not including libraries etc.), and past sales, etc. Author Central gives a free version of Bookscan, with more limited info, going back no more than a few weeks. So what a lot of authors do is go in every week, and then record their numbers in a spreadsheet or something to keep track of the numbers over time.

Your agent or editor may have access to the full-service version of Bookscan.

KatyD · « **Reply #18 on:** June 08, 2012, 07:49 PM »

Thanks, Jennifer. I didn't realize when my book came out in January that the Bookscan numbers on Amazon only went back eight weeks. I wish now that I'd made a spreadsheet to keep up with it myself. Live and learn...

Natalie · « **Reply #19 on:** July 18, 2012, 03:50 AM »

Was just looking into this since my book has now been out in the world for 18 whole days. ;-)

Here's a link to the Amazon page that explains which sources they do count (Amazon, B&N, Target, etc.) and what they don't (libraries, Walmart, etc.).

https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/help?topicID=200580390

Natalie · « **Reply #20 on:** July 18, 2012, 03:56 AM »

Quote from: JR on June 06, 2012, 08:45 AM

Does Bookscan on Author Central show total sales anywhere? Or just the 4 and 8 week sales?

Jean, you may have already seen this, but Amazon now says that they include stats on sales from September of 2010. My account isn't ready yet, so I can't see a thing, but this might help more than the 4-8 weeks data.

Lisa S · « **Reply #21 on:** July 18, 2012, 08:52 AM »

What these numbers do for you is tell you how the book is selling in retail establishments, especially the chain bookstores. So that's how you have to think about it. And I admit, since my books are more "commercial" that's something I'm curious about.

My numbers for my MG SPRINKLES AND SECRETS were dropping quite a bit. I figured it was because the paperback comes out in September and thought maybe they had returned the hardcovers so they weren't stuck with them. Well, the past two weeks, numbers were way up. I checked the "buy in store" link on the B&N site and it said "In Stock" again for all stores. Now I think that during those down weeks, more books were being printed and distributed, which is a good thing.

Simon and Schuster recently implemented an author portal, so S&S authors can get retail numbers there too. The numbers are very close to Amazon's. S&S includes e-book sales as well, however, and that's been fascinating to see. The few weeks where I guess some stores were sold out of SPRINKLES, my e-book sales jumped. Kids borrowing a parent's e-reader device perhaps? Those weeks, e-book sales far surpassed actual book sales. My e-book sales are strong for both my middle grade novels, which is so interesting to me. I sell way more MG e-books than I do YA e-books. It's too bad Amazon doesn't include e-book sales.

I don't use the numbers to try and estimate my royalty statements, since it's just part of the picture, as others have said.

Jean Reidy · « **Reply #22 on:** July 18, 2012, 09:24 AM »

Quote from: Natalie on July 18, 2012, 03:56 AM

Jean, you may have already seen this, but Amazon now says that they include stats on sales from September of 2010. My account isn't ready yet, so I can't see a thing, but this might help more than the 4-8 weeks data.

Natalie - Thank you. I just saw that. And I now realize how very "off" those numbers can be. Still, it is a way to generally watch for large swings in sales.

AnnS · « **Reply #23 on:** July 24, 2012, 10:58 AM »

Very low percentage in my case, to the point that I stopped looking.

MaureenMcGowan · « **Reply #24 on:** August 31, 2012, 01:40 AM »

Quote from: KatyD on June 08, 2012, 07:49 PM

Thanks, Jennifer. I didn't realize when my book came out in January that the Bookscan numbers on Amazon only went back eight weeks. I wish now that I'd made a spreadsheet to keep up with it myself. Live and learn...

I'm sure others have noticed this now... but they are showing more data now including total sales. (from when they started, I guess.)

I'm guilty of looking every week and glad to hear that for kids books they tend to be low... My two books out now were done WFH, so I don't get royalty statements, and the sales on Author Central look depressing. But I do know they were selling them in a lot of places not covered by Bookscan.

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Author Topic: Author Central by Amazon. Accurate? (Read 2176 times)

Michaela MacColl