Sales are tanking?

[littleauthor]

Could it be the impeachment hearings? Just throwing it out there. I don't know if politics has any bearing on book-buying/KU reads. My reads have been stuck at 318 since the beginning of the month.

[notthatamanda]

People could be in front of the TV instead of reading.

[Shoe]

Could it be the impeachment hearings?

I'm sure it's not helping, along with:

1) Thanksgiving preparations, travel...
2) Black Friday strategizing...
3) Christmas planning...
4) Heavy drinking to deal with it all...

[Marti Talbott]

I haven't gotten any of the Amazon notifications yet today. Even that seems to be behind.

[JRTomlin]

My Bookbub promo seems to be doing okay. *wipes brow* #14 in Free store & at the top of several subcategories.

My sales are never great in the late autumn / early winter though generally not terrible either. So far, that's holding true. But the KDP notifications seem to be slow this month. I've only had one.

[Marti Talbott]

I had a burst of Apple sales yesterday, so it looks like they were truly behind and are trying to catch up. It reminded me of a theory some of us had long ago - that Apple and Amazon actually used the same servers, and when it got too busy, it caused a delay for both. Today so far I have "0" paid sales for the second time in three days. I have not seen that in ten years.

[Joe Vasicek]

Could it be the impeachment hearings? Just throwing it out there. I don't know if politics has any bearing on book-buying/KU reads. My reads have been stuck at 318 since the beginning of the month.

Not likely.

One statistic I heard said that something like one out of five registered independents didn't even know that the impeachment hearings were happening.

1) Thanksgiving preparations, travel...
2) Black Friday strategizing...
3) Christmas planning...
4) Heavy drinking to deal with it all...

Bingo.

[JRTomlin]

That list is pretty typical, in my opinion, of why sales generally aren't great this time of the year. For indies, we are also approaching when a lot of major trade novels will be released which is usually to some degree a hit. I don't expect sales to go up until after Christmas. I just work to hold steady until then.

[Shoe]

My royalty notifications have now started dribbling in. Sales and KENP are running about 40% of normal, AMS impressions, clicks, and charges about 25% of normal. This is fairly typical around the 20th of each month.

[Marti Talbott]

My royalty notifications have now started dribbling in. Sales and KENP are running about 40% of normal, AMS impressions, clicks, and charges about 25% of normal. This is fairly typical around the 20th of each month.

I'm still not receiving any, but I always assumed it was done alphabetically and my last name starts with "T".

[Anarchist]

Could it be the impeachment hearings?

Ha! I just learned today that impeachment hearings are in effect.

I love being totally unplugged from politics. Ignorance truly is bliss when it comes to that claptrap.

[Simon Haynes]

Back to the thread topic... On or about the 20th of each month when the KDP payment notifications go out, sales and KENP seem to nosedive for two or three days. Both are abnormally low for me this time of day, so I'd say it's begun.

I posted elsewhere on the forums that the 15th for me is like the Ides of Every Month.  My sales are usually around half the average on that day.

Now that I'm in KU, I was not surprised to see my page reads also took a hit on the 15th.

Is it just me, or was the 15th once significant on KDP in terms of payment dates? I seem to recall that it was the cutoff for accruing royalties, which were then paid at the end of the following month.

Now it's the end of the month and 2 months later, so the 15th shouldn't be relevant any more.

[Shoe]

Is it just me, or was the 15th once significant on KDP in terms of payment dates?

On the fifteenth Zon announces the prior month's KENP rate. The date also seems to coincide with a slow-down in stats reporting (less severe than when the royalty notifications go out on the twentieth--like today).

Then again, many report zero disruption on either date.

[Gerri Attrick]

Sales - and page reads - which have been great all month following a new release on the 2nd, suddenly tanked yesterday and today. I usually do best at weekends.

I don't expect it to improve and I'm blaming Black Friday - whilst not looking forward to Cyber Monday.

Roll on January.   

[Marti Talbott]

Two paperbacks shipped today. Problem - they are in the middle of a 10 book series, most of which shipped previously with book 1-3 still showing no paperback sales. Sure, it's possible a reader ordered them out of sequence, but I think it's more likely the reports are behind. How far behind is anyone's guess.

[Maggie Ann]

I ran a Fussy Librarian on Thursday which usually does very well for me. Freebies: 190; Book 2: 3; Book 3: 2. Not so hot. Not even the freeloads.

I'm really glad November is almost over.

[Shoe]

Sales - and page reads - which have been great all month following a new release on the 2nd, suddenly tanked yesterday and today.

Mine took a hit on the 20th (KDP payment notification day), which isn't abnormal, but have yet to recover fully, which is. Inadvertently, I've been experimenting with "how long can I go between releases and still make a living?" I think I now have my answer--eight months, as November will probably fall below the threshold.

[ashleycapes]

Without a new release my sales would be almost dead this month (for my Amazon-only titles) so I don't know... again, the age of my titles has to make some impact on my sales now, but I do feel like this November is poorer for me than the past 3.

[Gerri Attrick]

Sales actually picked up for me after I posted - ah! The power of the Writer's Sanctum. 

Maybe Black Friday caused a lag in sales reporting and Amazon getting the money in. Who knows? 

Reporting is always a tad haphazard for me, because I'm in the UK. I seem to be caught between Australia, where I sell quite well, and America, where sales have picked up tremendously since the launch of that new series. I'm always up early, around 4-5am when it's still the previous day in the States, yet I may already have sales for that day in Oz or the UK. It's all a little confusing for my aging brain.

Hope everyone else's sales start to pick up soon.

[Simon Haynes]

It's worse in Western Australia, because I'm still getting US figures from the previous day until 3 in the afternoon. UK figures start coming in after 7am.

[Jeff Tanyard]

Sales actually picked up for me after I posted - ah! The power of the Writer's Sanctum. 

It's all about the vibes.   

[Gerri Attrick]

Sales actually picked up for me after I posted - ah! The power of the Writer's Sanctum. 

It's all about the vibes.   

 

[Joe Vasicek]

Maybe Black Friday caused a lag in sales reporting and Amazon getting the money in. Who knows? 

American Thanksgiving is this coming Thursday, which means Black Friday is this week.

It's so late this year because there's a fifth Thursday this month. Thanksgiving is always the last Thursday of November. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, and Cyber Monday is the Monday of the following week.

[Gerri Attrick]

Thanks for putting me right, Joe. I'll have to look elsewhere for the reason behind the slowdown.

[twicebitten]

Thanksgiving is always the last Thursday of November. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, and Cyber Monday is the Monday of the following week.

By law, it's the fourth Thursday of November. That means it's not the last Thursday some years. (if the 29th or 30th falls on Thursday, it's on 22 or 23). It can be Nov 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 or 28 and on no other date.

It's not as complicated as "the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere," as variable holiday counting goes, so I guess there's that consolation.

[Marti Talbott]

Google says:

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt changed Thanksgiving from the fourth to the third Thursday in November!

(Who you gonna believe? I've always believed it was the 3rd Thursday. They're just messing with us again.)

But...Google also says:
Thanksgiving had been celebrated on the last Thursday of the month since the time of Abraham Lincoln. ... As 1941 ended, Roosevelt made the final permanent change, as he signed a bill making Thanksgiving Day fall on the fourth Thursday of November, regardless of if it is the last Thursday of the month or not.

[Shoe]

I haven't "celebrated" Thanksgiving in years, maybe twenty. It's a crap meal, plus, you know, it sort of sticks it to Native Americans. Most people I know use the days off for quick getaways.

[Marti Talbott]

I haven't "celebrated" Thanksgiving in years, maybe twenty. It's a crap meal, plus, you know, it sort of sticks it to Native Americans. Most people I know use the days off for quick getaways.

On a lighter note, the Native Americans introduced us to smoking which has killed thousands.

[Maggie Ann]

Thanksgiving is always the last Thursday of November. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, and Cyber Monday is the Monday of the following week.

By law, it's the fourth Thursday of November. That means it's not the last Thursday some years. (if the 29th or 30th falls on Thursday, it's on 22 or 23). It can be Nov 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 or 28 and on no other date.

It's not as complicated as "the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere," as variable holiday counting goes, so I guess there's that consolation.

Good grief! Somebody else that remembers that. One day, my grandson wanted to know when Easter was, and without even looking up from my book, I said, "the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox." He looked at me like I was nuts. "Uh, I just wanted to know what day it was."

I never learned "in the Northern Hemisphere," I don't think.

[Joe Vasicek]

Thanksgiving is always the last Thursday of November. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, and Cyber Monday is the Monday of the following week.

By law, it's the fourth Thursday of November. That means it's not the last Thursday some years. (if the 29th or 30th falls on Thursday, it's on 22 or 23). It can be Nov 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 or 28 and on no other date.

It's not as complicated as "the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere," as variable holiday counting goes, so I guess there's that consolation.

Ah, yes. Thanks for the correction. If I'd bothered to look at a calendar, I would have noticed that. 

Shoe, I am truly thankful this Thanksgiving that I am not you.

[Eric Thomson]

Just so you folks in the US know... Real Thanksgiving is on the second Monday of October.  So there. 

[notthatamanda]

Our meal will be better this year.  Staying home.  No side dish of drama and dessert of someone's mental breakdown.  Chance of having to bail someone out of county on Thanksgiving day virtually zero.  Ah, the holidays.

[Jeff Tanyard]

Just so you folks in the US know... Real Thanksgiving is on the second Monday of October.  So there. 

Yeah, but your first frost is in the middle of summer, so you have to start early.   

[Shoe]

Our meal will be better this year.  Staying home.  No side dish of drama and dessert of someone's mental breakdown.  Chance of having to bail someone out of county on Thanksgiving day virtually zero.  Ah, the holidays.

It's funny how that goes. My oldest daughter always puts on a big show, prepares for days, and something always goes wrong. She cries for two days after. My youngest daughter and a few of her friends take their kids to a cabin in Tahoe and play board games, ski, eat pizza, drink wine and they all have a ball. Only the oldest daughter invites me to join her family. I'm running out of excuses.

[notthatamanda]

Gout?
People generally don't want to hear more about gout.

[Gerri Attrick]

Gout?
People generally don't want to hear more about gout.

Gout? Is that as in G(et) Out? 

[notthatamanda]

No gout is a real medical thing.  You guys probably have a different name for it in the UK.

[Gerri Attrick]

No gout is a real medical thing.  You guys probably have a different name for it in the UK.

No, it's called the same thing here, and it's a really painful condition, so I hear. Especially if you are given to drinking copious quantities of port.

I just wondered if your mention of it was in response to Shoe looking for excuses - and an excuse might also be a get out.

[notthatamanda]

Oh okay.  I thought after I posted that maybe it was a joke.  Should not post before coffee.  (That's what we drink here instead of tea, though I love me a pot of Earl Grey.  Probably only American's like Earl Grey? 

[Shoe]

I just wondered if your mention of it was in response to Shoe looking for excuses - and an excuse might also be a get out.

I mentioned gout as a possibility for me in the thread on dealing with pain (gout comes up when Googling "roaming pain" along with arthritis, diabetes, liver problems, and heart conditions). I'm not sure how "gout" landed in this thread.

[twicebitten]

I never learned "in the Northern Hemisphere," I don't think.

Neither did I, but I didn't want to offend our Australian friends. There, it's the Autumnal Equinox.

I think it's good to celebrate all nations' thanksgivings. This gives me more mashed potatoes.

[Maggie Ann]

I never learned "in the Northern Hemisphere," I don't think.

Neither did I, but I didn't want to offend our Australian friends. There, it's the Autumnal Equinox.

I think it's good to celebrate all nations' thanksgivings. This gives me more mashed potatoes.

I'm with you on that!

[Shoe]

I have only two prior Thanksgiving holidays to go by, but my experience so far is, Wed-Thur-Fri aren't great for sales/KENP, though that doesn't stop people from clicking away on AMS ads--so I'm pulling mine until Sat, which in the past two years came back strong.

November net overall will probably come in 19% down from October's, which was about the same percentage drop as last year. I haven't had a release since March of this year.

[Marti Talbott]

What age groups physically shop over the holiday? If they are older like me, they avoid it like the plague, giving cash instead. Parents with kids shop but probably don't have a lot of time to read. Teens? Probably not. College kids out for break are seeing friends, etc. So that pretty much leaves the over fifty crowd? Course, they got all the money, right?

[Shoe]

So that pretty much leaves the over fifty crowd?

They're usually the ones putting on the show tomorrow and therefore occupied with last-minute store runs, fetching boxes from the garage, house-cleaning, preparing their dinner table arguments, sneaking drinks from the cupboard...

[R H Auslander]

Surprisingly, I'm having the best month ever, I've made beer and Massandrah cost for three months, but then, I don't drink that much. That being said, VCO will tell you otherwise. Once I got off my dead nether regions and put all four tomes on Zon, sales have done rather well. However, I can tell you each and every day I make some pithy comment on two blogs I frequent and sometimes write for. We'll see how December goes, I've got two articles to get done and posted and while both are, ...ummm..., 'interesting', one should put the fox amongst the chickens until the readers check the appropriate events sources.

[Maggie Ann]

So that pretty much leaves the over fifty crowd?

They're usually the ones putting on the show tomorrow and therefore occupied with last-minute store runs, fetching boxes from the garage, house-cleaning, preparing their dinner table arguments, sneaking drinks from the cupboard...

Yes, but once you reach septuagenarian level, you can just sit back and let everyone serve you. You don't have to sneak the drinks anymore, either.

[Marti Talbott]

So that pretty much leaves the over fifty crowd?

They're usually the ones putting on the show tomorrow and therefore occupied with last-minute store runs, fetching boxes from the garage, house-cleaning, preparing their dinner table arguments, sneaking drinks from the cupboard...

Yes, but once you reach septuagenarian level, you can just sit back and let everyone serve you. You don't have to sneak the drinks anymore, either.

I hear that. I haven't cooked a turkey in years.

[Maggie Ann]

So that pretty much leaves the over fifty crowd?

They're usually the ones putting on the show tomorrow and therefore occupied with last-minute store runs, fetching boxes from the garage, house-cleaning, preparing their dinner table arguments, sneaking drinks from the cupboard...

Yes, but once you reach septuagenarian level, you can just sit back and let everyone serve you. You don't have to sneak the drinks anymore, either.

I hear that. I haven't cooked a turkey in years.

 

[Shoe]

After suggesting it would be otherwise, my sales and KENP have been strong during this holiday.

I saw a headline earlier mentioning brick and mortar retail is having a poor season (20% down). Maybe more people this year are home shopping online.