Starting off the New Year with numbers.

It’s been awhile since I reviewed my stats and what better time to start a habit…new, old, revised, or otherwise…than the first of the year?  My plan is to at least continue to check my stats quarterly, in order to keep track and to see if I can find any contributing factors for the reasons behind why my author rank or sales rank for each book may spike or plummet.  It’s not my plan to live or die by the stats, or let the numbers ruin my day if they are not as I would hope.  My plan is just to use them as a reference, especially when I want to compare them as I move on from one season (or one book) to the next.

For my sales rankings, I found that all books spiked recently, except 1313 Psycho Path (which did better near Halloween), but mostly when it came to the eBooks rather than the paperbacks.  “11:11 Anna’s Awakening” is the only book that spiked in sales for both paperbacks and eBooks; but it is also the most recently published book. 

The eBook version of “11:11” spiked a few weeks before Christmas:

While the paperback spiked just after Christmas/right before the New Year:

For the other books, the paperbacks weren’t the high sellers but the eBooks for Best Kept Secrets and Ties That Bind took off a week or so before Christmas:   

 

While No Mother of Mine spiked just after Christmas:

When the holidays aren’t upon us, it can be difficult to guess what may cause a spike in sales but as I continue to publish additional books, I do hope to see continuous upward movement and not just around the holidays or each time I attend an event or publish a new book. 

It’s great that Amazon will allow me to view my sales rank from a 2-week viewpoint, up to months, years and even the lifetime of a book.  I don’t know if there’s ever a cut off for the lifetime viewpoint of a book, but No Mother of Mine has been out since 2012 and I can still view the sales rank from 2012 until now:

While the sales rank for No Mother of Mine continues to jump up on fairly regular intervals, there is a continuous downward motion that I wish to change.  I’m hopeful that as I publish more books, and as I get back into some serious marketing and branding again later in the year, the sales rank for this book will run on a more even, horizontal level between spikes, which is what the sales rank for Best Kept Secrets and Ties That Bind have continued to do. 

What the sales ranks also show me is when I’ve been ‘quiet’ or just not quite out there as an author, which is a good indicator when there is little movement upward or when there is continuous downward movement for a long period of time.  See the obvious lack of spikes for Best Kept Secrets during 2015 from January through October in the chart below?

That’s what happens when an author goes off track for awhile.  There is no mystery as to the reason for the lower sales rank during this time…this is obviously the time period I was not writing much or putting myself out there while I was trying to deal with the unexpected death of my Dad.  But when it comes to staying on track creatively, it is definitely something I wish to avoid from happening again.

In the past when I reviewed my sales or author rank, I would notice an obvious jump after I took part in large book events or author signings.  I’m not able to hold a signing on a quarterly basis right now but it would be nice to be at or near that point sometime in my author life, or at least part of something that continuously helps build my author brand and gets my name out there. 

Now that I have reviewed my author and sales rankings to get an idea of where my numbers are the beginning of the New Year, I can get back to the numbers that are important right now, which includes:

4 - for the fourth volume of the Jorja Matthew mystery series which I plan to complete/publish the end of this year and…

1 - for the first young adult book I hope to continue working on as I’m able so that I have a final draft completed by the end of this year (I’m already at 30,000+ words so it has quite a head start). 

Don’t worry, for those who are waiting for the 4^th book in the Jorja Matthews series, it will take priority over any other book and will be published next, I promise.  J

Carry on, create and have a great week!