Public Service Announcement:
Something to keep in mind for those seeing an unexpected recent increase in print sales.

Amazon typically pushes production of print in order to warehouse POD books in advance of any demand. An increase around November is often typical.

HOWEVER. If it's Amazon doing the ordering, then that means they pay you when they print and warehouse the book. NOT when it's sold. Or if they get 1 customer order, they might print 5 more books to warehouse.

This comes up every year. An author sees a spate of sales in November and then...nothing. They KNOW their mom and Cousin Lou bought print books in mid-December to give as gifts, but those sales aren't showing up, and they believe Amazon is withholding royalties due.

But they've actually been paid for those books in November's royalties. Maybe Amazon prints 5 books in Nov and pays the author for those 5 books. That means the books mom and Cousin Lou bought came from that stack of 5 books that now belong wholly to Amazon. That means Amazon has 3 more books it's already paid you for that it can sell before owing you anything more.

If the books sell slowly, they may not be restocked until a 6th customer comes along and orders a book. Amazon will usually then print one for the customer and one for the warehouse and pay you for both copies right then. So when Aunt Milly orders a copy on Mother's Day and you KNOW she's ordered it but the sale never shows up, it's because they've sold her a warehoused copy they've already paid you for.

All to also say that in many cases an increase in sales in November in anticipation of the holidays does not always translate into *more* sales before the holidays. It isn't necessarily indicative of demand. Especially if Amazon warehouses more copies than are sold to actual customers.