Remember the double rainbow guy from YouTube? What does this MEAN?! Yeah, that's what I thought of, too.
Makes me laugh EVERY. TIME. :D
Anyway . . . this post might actually mean more to traditional authors than indies. . . .
I remember WAAAAY BACK when I was first published. My title went up early on Amazon for pre-orders, and, on the day of release, I debuted around 10,000. Dudes, I was SO stoked. This was 2009, by the way (yeah, the whole Way Back thing was me being sarcastic). :) After that I slipped back, hovered in the 40ks, and then higher, and then the 200ks . . . no big deal. My current ranking? 1.9 million. Yeah. Good times.
And no, I'm not telling you the title. I like my secret identity just fine, thanks. However, should I ever regain those rights, I might be tempted to re-release as an Indie. We shall see.
Anywho, all that to say this: I had NO CLUE what Amazon rankings meant because I didn't have access to sales numbers. Fast Forward to 2012: I keep a notebook to track my daily sales. I micromanage the highs and lows. (Not always a good thing, but I digress.) Now that Indies are micromanaging, though, we have a pretty good idea of what needs to be sold to reach those milestones (breaking 10k, 5k, Top 100, etc.).
(Granted, these are always subject to change with Amazon's ever-fluctuating algorithms. . . . )
So . . .
Treat the following as: "If your Amazon ranking is _____, then you are selling ______."
8,500 to 40,000 = 1 to 10 books a day
3,500 to 8,500 = 10 to 30 books a day
2,000 to 3,500 = 30 to 55 books a day
1000 to 2,000 = 55 to 100 books a day
200 to 1000 = 100 to 300 books a day
80 to 200 = 300 to 550 books a day
65 to 80 = 550 to 650 books a day
20 to 65 = 650 to 1,100 books a day
10 to 20 = 1,100 to 2,000 + books a day
2,000 to 3,500 = 30 to 55 books a day
1000 to 2,000 = 55 to 100 books a day
200 to 1000 = 100 to 300 books a day
80 to 200 = 300 to 550 books a day
65 to 80 = 550 to 650 books a day
20 to 65 = 650 to 1,100 books a day
10 to 20 = 1,100 to 2,000 + books a day
5 to 10 = 2,000 to 3,500 books a day
1 to 5 = 3,500+ books a day
1 to 5 = 3,500+ books a day
(This data comes from Theresa Ragan, btw, from her personal experience/Kindleboards info. Please drop by her blog and show her some love, if you have time. The original post to this data is here.)
This is pretty consistent with what I've been seeing--give or take a few sales. Cross My Heart has been hovering between #700-900 the last few days, and I'm seeing between 90-100 sales a day.
So, if you're watching your ranking, and want to know what it takes to see number X, this gives you a pretty good idea of the number of sales needed.
(Disclaimer: the information could change at any time, and does not weight ebooks that are listed as FREE. This is for paid sales only.)
Either way, I hope this helps shed some light.
Knowledge is power!
(I'm saying that a lot, lately.)
~K~
Am listening to: "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve.
