OCD Part 2: Sales

Dovetailing off of yesterdays OCD post about editing is todays OCD post about sales numbers. As cool, calm and collected as I try to appear about book sales, the C word that truly describes me when it comes to this aspect of authorhood is certifiable. The cold, hard truth for an author is that you only get to write more books if editors want to buy them, and editors only want to buy them if your previous books have sold well. I want to write more books. So that means, I need Personal Demons to sell.

I obsessively check my B&N and Amazon ranking every morning and every night. Like clockwork. Up until now, those have been an author's only way of getting a feel for what their book is doing. BUT...

All you obsessive authors, take note! When your editor quotes you sales numbers, she/he gets those numbers from BookScan. That number doesn't reflect every single book sold, and e-books are not included, but it gives you a solid sense of how your physical books are fairing out in the world. Publishers pay thousands of dollars a month to access this service.

But guess what?

If you have an Author Central account on Amazon, you can now sign up to track your national BookScan numbers for FREE!!!! For all you OCD authors out there, here's the link!

Happy obsessing!! ;p