Predictie text and Amazon changes.

Amazon have changed their stats system yet again. I don't know if their method of "counting" has changed, but certainy their way of reporting to authors has, and in a way I find most unhelpful. Bar charts are all very well in their place, but I much prefer the old method of numbers of books sold against each title, and number of KENP pages read against each title.

Now it seems I have to check through each titles infividually to find out what is happening to it. I looknat the bar chart and see for example that two books have sold, but I don't know which one or in which country. I have to go and do some extra work to find out.  Might be easier for Amazon, but it certainly isn't easier for me.

Must be in a growse mode today, because I'm getting annoyed with predictive text too.  DH has found a way of switching it off, so I must do that when I have a moment. I have enough mistakes of my own to correct without predictive text incorrectly guessing what I want to say.  I'm in the washing, ironing, tidying, hoovering stage of getting ready to go on holiday so I live in turmoil. Perhaps that's my problem!

The pic? The laburnum has faded now, but it was glorious while it lasted. 

Book v Kindle and Lewis

No one seems able to make up their minds about The Book v Kindle. First I read the book is declining, almost gone, and then I read Kindle book sales are dwindling fast and real book sales are rising.
This may be attributed to regional variation, or personal bias. (I always view statistics with caution after reading a little book called How to Lie with Statistics) But I wish we knew the true story. Perhaps it just means that if television is good that month then no one reads much - and vice versa!
There seems a lot that is good on  the box at the moment so no doubt sales of books will plummet whatever the format.

There's even a new series of Lewis to watch in these chilly autumn nights. Last night's first episode is safely recorded on video to watch later (I hope it recorded safely! Doc Martin didn't on Monday). I never quite empathised with Morse, found the series interesting in that Morse always went off after rabbits and hares while poor Lewis often had the right idea but got little credit. I find I don't want to watch Endeavour again though I enjoyed watching the episodes once. But the Lewis/Hathaway combo is brilliant and I do watch them again - for the combo development as much as anything. Plus the back chat with Laura, of course.

The best selling e-books of 2012

Publishers Weekly has an interesting article - OK, it came out mid 2013, and it's already 2014, so you may have seen it. But I've just found it and I want to keep it ot at least the link to it. I may want to look back at it some day. And there is a certain curiosity in knowing how many titles authors sold....

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/56408-the-e-book-explosion-facts-figures-2012.html

The magazine asked publishers for information on e-book sales. Because they were not specific enough in their questions, they got more info than they bargained for, but when they looked at it, they found lots of  interest. Here's a little quote:

"All the publishers that shared digital information were houses that rack up enough print sales to compete in the bestseller race. And while we estimate that we have more than 1,000 e-books with sales of 25,000+, we know this does not reflect all e-book sales in the book industry. Still, a look at this quantity underscores that the book business is quickly moving to digital. It would be safe to say that the lackluster performance in mass market has a lot to do with the fact that readers are enjoying the convenience of the electronic devices instead of the more traditional convenience of the paperback.

Also, it is clear where backlist sales have gone. Peruse the list and you will see double-digit numbers of titles for most of the bestselling veterans. Nora Roberts may be the most prolific in this area: she has 40 titles on the e-book list, adding up to about 3.2 million in total e-sales; James Patterson has 29 books on the list, with a total of more than 2.6 million; Janet Evanovich scores close to 1.8 million with 19 books."

One phrase leapt out at me: the book business is quickly moving to digital. 

In view of this change in the business, which after a slow, tepid start now seems to be gathering speed like the proverbial stone rolling downhill, I am now seriously thinking about publishing Matho's story myself. I can do it. No worries on that score. I can - indeed, already have, a cover that I think is good enough to be THE cover. The big worry is promotion. The stumbling block to self-publishing is getting the information out there. While I tinker about with yet another edit of the story, and finish off my Viking tale, I shall be exploring better ways of promotion. 

J K Rowling and the book-buying public

There's an article worth reading behind the link quoted below. It has been around for some time, but I've just found it, and I'm "fixing" it here so that I can find it again - and perhaps bring it to the attention of a few more people who, like me, don't always catch the news first time around.

It concerns J K Rowling and her attempts to bring out  new novels under a false name. I can certainly see why she would want to do that. The Harry Potter cult-thing was unique. Enid Blyton was popular but I don't think she suffered the same media attention or the same pressure as J K.  Nor, I am sure, did she make the same amount of money! Once the cult thing began, J K's success was assured, but she must have wondered about her status as writer. Putting books out anonymously was one way of discovering what people truly thought of her work.

It's a sad reflection on people that the ones she trusted  most were the ones who let her down. It is equally a sad reflection on the book buying public - once they knew, they queued up in droves to buy the wretched book. It makes me wonder if any publisher could resist the temptation to "leak" the famous name and thus assure themselves of much-needed sales.

The best bit of the article is the single comment right at the end. Make sure you read that far.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/15/jk-rowling-publishing-industry-unknown-writers

Statistics

I'n currently obsessed with statistics. Mine. No, not the hour-glass kind, but my blog stats. I began my blog in 2008 and the stats have been rising steadily year on year - except for last year. They dropped through the January to November period and suddenly started to rise again. Now the worrying thing is were my posts so boring, or was there another reason? Does anyone else check their blog stats?

I'm also trying to find records of my book sales, to see how I'm doing and what sells. I should be able to co-ordinate it with the amount of PR I do, but that may be a step to far. Certainly I record where I promote, so I don't overwhelm one promo site, and I try to vary which title I promote, but it would be a horrendous task. I think I'll save it for a day when I'm really bored and stuck with my writing. First of all, I've discovered a gap in my records, so it would be good to find the missing sheets. Given that my study is a bit of higgledy-piggledy mess, that might not be too easy. Wish me luck!

In case the pic puzzles you, it's a wave coming gently ashore.