Amazon Sales Ranking and Rank Tracer: I'm Officially Obsessed!

"Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman, not the attitude of the prospect." ~William Clement Stone

A few weeks ago, my cyber-friend Diane Craver referred to her obsession with checking her Amazon sales ranking multiple times a day.

Now that One Night in Boston is there, I know what she's talking about! For those of you who aren't familiar, every product for sale on Amazon has a sales rank. Though they supposedly keep the algorithm for figuring this ranking a secret, it does give you an idea of where your sales fall. The lower the number, the better your sales are. Anything up around 1,000,000 means few to no sales. Between 100,000 and 999,999 is moderate sales (you'll probably sell 10 - 200 copies, total). Less than 100,000 and you're doing better than average.

So of course you know I check my ranking a few times a day, now! The thing is, 1 person buying your book can make your rank jump a few hundred thousand, so you can't get too excited. Still, it's an indication of *something.* One site that makes it easy to check, without going to your actual Amazon page, is Sales Rank Express. (Oh, in case you're wondering, One Night in Boston is hovering somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 most days. Not bad considering it's not out in print yet! That's thanks to all you lovely readers who have pre-ordered it).

The nice thing, though, is that it gives you a chance to track your sales when matched up against your advertising efforts (for all my downplaying of the Border events last Friday, my ranking moved from 400,000+ Friday morning to 199,000 Saturday morning. So *someone* bought a copy!).

That's where RankTracer comes in. I stumbled across this nifty site yesterday. They will track your Amazon sales for you, and send you a detailed graph of how your sales are doing over a specified time period. They will also provide estimated sales. Plus - I have to add this - their customer support is awesome. The subscription $$ to track 1 product is $2/month. *However* they'll give you 3 months free if you promote their site: mention it on your blog, link to it from your webpage, etc. Free is too sweet to pass up!

Since I just signed up, I can't comment too much more specifically, but I'll definitely let you know what I think after the first month! Fellow authors, it's well worth checking into, I think. Anyone else already use it?