Happy Monday, WG2E-Land Peeps!
Recently, to keep both my creative and business routines fresh and interesting, I’ve been mixing ‘em up a bit.
For example, I’ve gone from checking and recording my Ebook Sales (across all channels) daily to checking and recording them just once per month.
And wow is that a HUGE change for me! 
I used to record them every day, but with Amazon’s algorithms changing every whipstitch and Smashwords’ sporadic reporting, I’ve decided to simply record them monthly versus daily.
This is saving me a ton of time as well as saving my sanity too!
When you’re first starting out in your Indie Epublishing Journey, I advise you do check and record your sales daily. That way, you can see the impact various marketing strategies have on your sales. For example, you’ll see the effects various blog sponsorships have on your sales (i.e. Ereader-Centric Blog Sponsorships like Ereader News Today (ENT), Pixel of Ink (PoI) and RG2E), and you can watch what happens after you’ve hit bestseller lists or after a bestselling author has given you a sweet shout-out or after you’ve upped your presence on Facebook and Twitter.
But after you’ve settled into your Indie Epublishing World, and have several Ebooks on your cyber shelf and a nice following, I don’t see an advantage to recording your sales daily. In fact, it can make you a bit paranoid to watch all the gigantic swings, dives and thrives of your Ebook Sales. And, it takes time away from writing the next book.
I weened myself from daily record-keeping to bi-monthly and now just monthly.
When I took stock of my daily schedule, following this change, I couldn’t believe how much time I was spending tracking numbers and recording ‘em too. I’m now able to produce an extra 5 pages per day of my next book! Yayyy!!!
I still get a little panicky because I now no longer know how much money I’ve made in any given week, and that was kind of cool to look at and boosted my muses to keep on crankin’ out pages. But at the same time, it’s never been about the money to me, and now I have more time to spend with my readers in the communities I’ve built for them and more time to write the next book I’ll treat them to! And MY READERS ARE MY EVERYTHING!!!
It’s Your Turn, WG2E-Land: How Often Do You Check Your Ebook Sales?
P.S. I still do spot check ‘em every few days, but I just don’t take the time to record them and analyze ‘em except for once per month.
Great stuff!
I’ve been to Sales Checkers Annonymous since I first started and now only check and record them every day. It gives me much more time to do other things now, like write!
Luuuvvv it, Sibel…”Sales Checkers Anonymous”…you’re a hoot! U Go, Girl!!!
Great post. I, too, am down to once a day.
Well done, Kiru! It is such a sanity saver, my friend! You can totally drive yourself nuts by over-analyzing the numbers.
I’m working on this. Still check at least morning and night, but am trying to get myself to once a day. I quit recording about 4 months ago, but now realize I do want to keep a record of the monthly count of each title, so have to go back and do some work there.
Atta Girl, Stacey!
I am finding enormous benefits to the monthly recording as it’s a great way to check on the cyclical nature of sales and watch how your overall daily average is doing.
I had also stopped obsessing over checking book sales but with my new release I find myself checking daily again – I don’t record the sales though – just monthly. Am happy to see with the new release my sales are good even pretty decent at Barnes and Noble. (finally)
Yayyy regarding your Barnes and Noble status, Liz! WooHooo!!!
Stopping the obsession is always healthy!
I check once a day. I want to see what days work best for promotion etc., but I don’t obsess about it anymore like I did when I first started.
It is a wonderful feeling when you can break that obsessive need to keep checking sales. There’s actually a kind of freedom to it, right Elizabeth?
I don’t record it, but I do check Smashwords every day, am and pm. I check Amazon once a month ish.
I have a heckuva time with Smashwords reporting, Julie. I just don’t get why it’s sooo sporadic. They’ll go for awhile and post B&N numbers every couple weeks, then suddenly it’s over a month before you get those numbers again.
I have to plead utter ignorance here – how exactly do I see which of my smashwords titles sold through B&N? I just see the overall sales on my dashboard. Do they parse it out for you? If so, where do I look?
And I need to check in for rehab – that is valuable time being wasted that could be spent writing. Great advice. Thanks, DD!
When we started our small indie it was before the ebook revolution. We check stats weekly. Now its more bi-weekly. We found that our Middle Grade titles still sell more in print then ebook and our Young Adult titles do about 25% less than our ebook titles.
Interesting scoop, LM, and thanks sooo very much for sharing it with us!!!
I check numbers bi-weekly but record numbers once a month. I like to keep a track of how many of each book I’ve sold and also get an idea of how much my royalties will be. I feel like a weight was lifted off my shoulders when I decided to stop checking every day. It can get a little obsessive if you let it and I was becoming that way.
I do wish Smashwords could do something with their reporting but I suppose they are at the mercy of all the retailers they distribute to. I can only imagine that they get their figures in dribs and drabs from the e-retailers.
I bet you’re totally right re Smashwords, Alison…they are at the mercy of the e-tailers.
I sooo hear ya too on feeling like a huge weight has been lifted now that I don’t check sales each and every day.
I’m still obsessing. I’ll have to look up Sibel’s “Sales Checkers Annonymous.” LOL
LOL, Kristine! We need some kind of 12-Step Program for sure to get through this part of our Indie Epublishing Journey!!!
Okay, yes guilty! I still check every day and it’s crazy how no sales or low sales can affect my mood. I’m down to checking just once a day, but think I’m going to start weening myself off and checking once a week, then every two weeks then take it to a month. My muses don’t need the hassle. they need to write
It sooo does affect your mood, Nana! I’ve been there and done that and can assure you that if you start that weening process you’ll be so glad you did and your muses will be much happier too!
Rock on, my friend!
I record daily since I’ve been trying new promotions. I like to see exactly where and when sales take a huge change and what works at different retailers.
However, some days I’m just like a Pavlovian dog. Any new sales yet? How about now? Oh, it’s been thirty minutes, time to check! Oh, look the numbers turned over. Yay! Oh no, a return. Crud, where’s the chocolate? Those are the days I have to take a break from the computer and regroup. lol
Totally hear ya, Deanna! LOL! Who needs a bell when you can click on those sales numbers every time u salivate?!
I have also been to a 12 step program after my first book came out and I was to say the least obsessed with the numbers- after two weeks of constant checking as well as juggling all the other mom of four kid stuff. I was literally almost sending myself to a nervous breakdown. I have friends who check hourly and they seem fine with it. I can not. I am too worried about the roller coater that is natural with sales. My dear hubby toke over checking my sales numbers since then- once a day (he is an engineer who loves numbers and tracking them) and he records them. I can honestly say that I have no idea for the past two plus months what my daily sales are. And I am so much happier for it. My hubby just says- “you are still selling honey.” And that is good enough for me:)
My DH now does my numbers too, Lois! And wow does that also work wonders for me!
I do take sneak peeks every couple days just to check-in but he now does all the recording and analyzing, and I get the totals from him just once per month.
Cheers to number-crunching DHs!!!
Number-checking is a huge time-suck, especially when you have to log onto 5 different sites (KDP, CS, PubIt, iTunes, Smashwords)! I did daily checks for the first month of book # 2, and have since scaled back to once a week or less. Unless I’m running a promo or something special, I think once a month is fine, especially for novels that have been out for a year or more
Has anyone had any luck using Rankforest.com or similar programs? Thanks DD! Lauren
A huge time-suck it sooo can be, Lauren! Especially when you’re selling across all platforms.
I haven’t heard of Rankforest so thanks bunches for sharing that, my friend! Cheers!!!
That’s a great question! Honestly, I do it whenever I am curious – maybe once every 10 days? Like Lauren (above), if I am doing a big marketing push or promo I try to check more often to watch for patterns. But I like the idea of once a month, we probably underestimate how much time each check eats up. Nice idea!
The once a month recording is showing me wonderful patterns, Laura, so it definitely works for that!!!
I used to check my numbers several times a day, but I’m doing very little promotion at the moment, so I’m checking about once per week these days. I figure until I have a few more books out there, and am doing more promotion, it’s not going to matter very much, so I’m spending my time churning and burning that word count! Nothing helps sales like your next book, so I’ve heard
Cheers D.D. Welcome back!
Spending your time “churning and burning that word count” is a brilliant strategy, Greg! And the numbers will all be there when you’re ready to take a peek!
And thanks bunches for the Welcome Back, my friend! U rock!!!
I check my stats every morning around 7-8 AM UK time, which is around midnight at Amazon’s HQ. I record the sales # in a spreadsheet.
I don’t do it out of compulsion, but because I’m running a business. I need to know if sales are up or down, if it’s time to run a promotion or buy an advert or if changing my cover art paid off or if the article I wrote for a big blog garnered me any new readers. It helps me gauge how to best spend my time (and any advertising dollars I choose to invest.)
For example, I recently redid my covers on my Caledonia Fae series and sales have rocketed up by 30%. I wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t been keeping track.
You make an excellent point, India, which I forgot to mention…I also check the numbers at the same time of day and use a fabulous spreadsheet to record them.
I’ve used the daily strategy just like you for almost two years now and it has taught me a ton about the business end of Indie Epublishing. Now, though, I’m watching more of the longer term patterns so the monthly is giving me just the snapshots I need to determine my new strategies.
Keeping track of the trends in your sales is a must! U Go, Girl!!!
Congrats to all who have kicked the obsession to check every day.
As for me…every day? Pffft. (more like four times a day, sigh)
I check Amazon and Barnes & Noble every day at midnight, provided I’m up. I record the totals in a notebook with a page for each month. This helps me see how the sales are going and helps me make certain determinations…whether the ranking is low enough for me to check further to see if I’m on the Top 100 list at Amazon for my genre…how sales are going now vs. this time last month or last year…how well a new release is selling…if sales pick up after having an excerpt published in another author’s eBook or after advertising, etc.
Oh my, I’ve got some work to do! I published my debut novel three days ago and for the first two days I was checking stats every two hours only to see very, very tiny numbers. So, I’ve stopped doing this and will only check the figures after getting a couple of reviews on Amazon and a few promotional campaigns (hopefully WG2E as well).