A Book Launch in the Time of COVID-19 and Cyberwar (Continued)

In the first two weeks, BookScan reported 110 Weird World War III US retail print sales in the first week and 49 in the second week. I suggested this report omitted key observable data such as 41 US retail print sales in the Philadelphia region. Based on this critical omission, I concluded that the book was likely doing better than BookScan’s data would suggest.

Below are the BookScan US trade paperback sales as reported by Amazon for the period of October 19th through October 25th by geography. As a reminder, BookScan compiles point-of-sales data from ~10,000 retailers throughout the US, including Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, Target, and Buy.Com. Retailers such as Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club do not participate. As such, BookScan estimates that this point-of-sales data represent about 75% of all brick-and-mortar and online retail print book sales in the US. It does not include ebook sales, sales outside the US, sales to libraries, or used book sales.

According to Bookscan, Weird World War III sold 27 copies last week, which is less than the 49 sold in the second week. However, the book’s Amazon rankings have stabilized to plus or minus 100,000 for both print and KDP sales. Also, the Philadelphia region’s print retail sales only increased by one book week-over-week, so Between Books‘ 41 sales still haven’t materialized. So again, the data is highly flawed. I’ll check in again next week, but my sense is I won’t have a clue how this book is doing until January, if and when returns come in.

Stay tuned!

On the plus side, Amazon reviews for Weird World War III continue to trickle in, and all have been four or five stars, so at least there’s some forward momentum there.

Also, if you’re reading this and still haven’t purchased a copy yet, please do. All you need do is click one of the links below. If you have purchased a copy, thank you so much. If you don’t mind doing a quick Amazon review, I would be even more grateful.

Onward!

Order Weird World War III Now

A Book Launch in the Time of COVID-19 and Cyberwar (Continued)

Last week, BookScan reported 110 Weird World War III US retail print sales in the first week. I suggested this data didn’t tell the full story because of several mitigating factors ranging from shipping delays to data lags to a cyberattack on the US’s largest book retailer. Based on these factors, I concluded that the book was doing a lot better than this initial report and that the data would point to this view in the second week.

With all that in mind, what does the data say?

Below are the BookScan US trade paperback sales as reported by Amazon for the period of October 12th through October 18th by geography. As a reminder, BookScan compiles point-of-sales data from ~10,000 retailers throughout the US, including Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, Target, and Buy.Com. Retailers such as Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club do not participate. As such, BookScan estimates that this point-of-sales data represent about 75% of all brick-and-mortar and online retail print book sales in the US. It does not include ebook sales, sales outside the US, sales to libraries, or used book sales.

According to Bookscan, Weird World War III sold 49 copies last week. So the book did worse in the second week than it did in the first–which doesn’t seem to foot with Amazon’s rankings. Between Books‘ total sales last week were 41, which implies that Amazon and all other bookstores in the US sold only 8 copies, which is extremely unlikely. If you look even more closely at sales by geography, the data implies that Between Books sold 0 copies last week because the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania geography (which includes Delaware in BookScan) registered 0 sales. In other words, the data is just plain wrong. It’s hard to tell how the book will ultimately do, but I hope these data issues are settled soon. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next week.

Stay tuned!

On a positive note, Amazon reviews for Weird World War III are slowly trickling in, so at least the book is at least making steady progress there.

Also, if you’re reading this and still haven’t purchased a copy yet, please do. All you need do is click one of the links below. If you have purchased a copy, thank you so much. If you don’t mind doing a quick Amazon review, I would be even more grateful.

Onward!

Order Weird World War III Now