[Fredster]

Has anyone ever had a period where Amazon has not updated their sales statistics for a while? I feel like I might be in limbo, but I'm not quite sure.

Generally speaking, my novel sells 2 - 10 copies a day. Every once in a while, there's a day where none sell, but those are pretty infrequent.

According to Amazon, no copies have sold since overnight Sunday, when two sold. Here's the kicker: I gifted a copy to a blog reviewer yesterday, and even that sale hasn't shown up. Granted, those sales aren't counted until the giftee actually claims the book, so there's a possibility that she hasn't. She did, however, send me an email to let me know she received it after I bought it.

It's just strange to go so long without logging any sales at all, but I don't have any proof that there's a hangup on the Amazon side, so I thought I'd see if anyone else had experienced something similar.

Thanks in advance.


(please don't dash my hopes and tell me that I'm a has-been already!)

 

[Fredster]

Whoops! This was supposed to be in "Writer's Cafe" -- sorry!

 

[Carol (was Dara)]

I think hiccups happen once in awhile. You'll go all day with no sales, then suddenly a bunch appear all at once. It's hard to tell whether it's Amazon being slow at updating sales statistics or just coincidence.

 

[Sarah Woodbury]

We've had a long thread about this today in two places, but primarily here: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,68474.0.html

Never fear, you are not alone in this today!

 

[kCopeseeley]

Yes, I think there are a couple of other threads that have mentioned it, as Sarah said.  Go there and feel better!  

 

[Fredster]

Thanks for the info, guys. The downside is that as I was having no sales, my ranking was in free fall -- it never got a bump. The upside is, overnight 3 sales showed up, so at least something is happening.

Maybe people just aren't buying it right now.

 

[J. Carson Black]

Something's going on.  I went from 500+ sales in two hours to 24 sales in the following two hours.  That's a factor of 20 going in the wrong direction!  I hope it's Gaga and the reports are slow.  I just don't know how to trust amazon - they've done so many weird things.  Oddly, my rankings have stayed the same.  Maybe that's a good sign? 

 

[edwardgtalbot]

Something's going on. I went from 500+ sales in two hours to 24 sales in the following two hours. That's a factor of 20 going in the wrong direction! I hope it's Gaga and the reports are slow. I just don't know how to trust amazon - they've done so many weird things. Oddly, my rankings have stayed the same. Maybe that's a good sign?

Wow. For sure, reports are slow. There is no way this happens unless Amazon changes their algorithms, and I can confirm I'm seeing the same books, including yours, floating around the books I browse through.

Won't be checking my sales for another 1-2 hours - I'm almost afraid what I'll find. My ranking has improved today after getting worse gradually over the last week, but sounds like that may not mean much if updating is off.

 

[MH Sargent]

My ranking has improved today after getting worse gradually over the last week, but sounds like that may not mean much if updating is off.

This.

All my book rankings started to go the wrong way on Monday. They have come back a bit today, certainly better than yesterday, but something is funky, that's for sure. And no tags either, but that's happened to lots of indies.

 

[J. Carson Black]

It seems there's one thing after another.  May 10th a bunch of us lost all our "also boughts" for most of a day. I thought I'd be okay, and then the next day I was down to fewer than half the sales, and it took me ten days to claw myself back up.  Then Tuesday, apparently, Lady Gaga hit. Today, the tags are gone.

And then a drop like the one I just had?  I have no idea what's going on.  They never tell you anything, never warn you.  Maybe amazon just can't control it, but it's a tough way to think you can make a living if this keeps happening.

 

[MH Sargent]

A ton of writers are experiencing these same problems. If you go to your KDP page, in the community section, there is this thread, about sales grinding to a halt.

http://forums.kindledirectpublishing.com/kdpforums/thread.jspa?threadID=14915&start=0&tstart=0

 

[J. Carson Black]

Thanks for the link, MH.  Misery loves company! 

 

[Sarah Woodbury]

"May 10th a bunch of us lost all our "also boughts" for most of a day. I thought I'd be okay, and then the next day I was down to fewer than half the sales, and it took me ten days to claw myself back up.  Then Tuesday, apparently, Lady Gaga hit. Today, the tags are gone."

Just wanted to let you know that I'm with you on this too . . . I wonder if our books are linked somehow (date published?) though yours sell way better than mine, especially since May 10th!  I'm glad you managed to claw your way back.  Since Monday, things have just gone in the wrong direction all the way around.

 

[Terrence OBrien]

If sales are not flowing into the system, it's reasonable for rankings to stay relatively unchanged. The only change would come from the decaying weight of past sales.