I think you’re missing the point. Bookscan exists because it is an unbiased aggregator of book sales. If bookscan contacted the publisher, there’s a possibility the publisher could provide inflated sales numbers for a variety of strategical reasons.

As for enacting YAL (Yet Another Law), I’d rather continue to rely upon the efficient self-policing rules already built into the publishing market instead of looking to of all organizational bodies the federal government. Fraud of the sort you’re referring to is nonexistent within reputable circles of the publishing industry.

Jason

I was fortunate enough to become lead title for my publisher as a debut author in mass market paperback and had 3 books released back to back in 2008. I learned a lot from the experience. And with a new series starting in 2009, I’m hoping to expand my knowledge base. And your single ISBN report is a great idea. Thanks.

In 2008, I subscribed to the discounted RWA Bookscan for the top 100 romances and looked at it religiously after my 2008 releases, but have reconsidered renewing my subscription because Bookscan only represents 25-30% of my total sales. I had 3 books released in 2008 and had painstakingly gone over these numbers until I got my first royalty stmt. My publisher had also provided sales to me by contacting their 10-12 key accts and they also got Walmart numbers in their totals (which is 35-45% of my total sales). (And the smaller wholesale markets–airports, drug & grocery stores, etc–are harder to get on a timely basis.) Getting reliable sales numbers in a timely manner is next to impossible, from my experience, without Wal-mart reporting.

And with regard to selling at workshops without a bookstore transacting sales. Because I do speaking engagements where they request I sell books on my own, I’ve negotiated a special rate (40% discount) from a local indy store that I love. It allows them to make a little money on my wholesale transactions and I get official sales off the books I buy from them. I can purchase through my publisher at a steeper discount - 50% - but those sales don’t go against my official numbers. So I’ve chosen to handle my own sales this way to support my local indy store as well as have my purchases become a part of my official sales numbers. This might be a helpful tip for your readers.

Thanks again for your great article.

I checked with Dennis Halby at Nielsen, who confirmed that they aren’t yet capturing ebook sales into the BookScan system. He said, “We are actively working towards that goal but currently do not have an ETA as to when we will be able to include this data in BookScan.”

He also confirmed that BookScan tracking does require an ISBN number.

-Alan

Thanks for your cogent advice to authors about ways they can build their BookScan numbers to more accurately reflect their total sales. I wouldn’t call it gaming though — just smart strategy.

-Alan

Does Bookscan include any sales information on e-book sales? Until recently I suppose this was negligible, only 1% or 2% of the publishing business. But Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos two weeks ago claimed that 35 percent of Amazon’s unit sales are now Kindle editions (as long as you’re counting only those titles available in both Kindle and hard copy). Amazon is perhaps 15 percent to 20 percent of the trade book market today, but I believe they influence many more purchases elsewhere because of the information available at their site (customer reviews, recommendations, etc.)

Another complication I can think of: many of the titles Amazon sells in Kindle edition format don’t have ISBNs. If Bookscan requires an ISBN for a book to be counted, this could get complicated.

Yes, the numbers are misleading. In BookScan’s case, they miss out on sales made at a huge retailer of books — WalMart.

But understand that the numbers are _equally_ misleading for all titles. It’s not just that WalMart’s sales are missing from *your* book, they are missing from _every_book.

In other words, they are an index. If one book shows 200 sales via BookScan and another at 400, it can be assumed — with a high degree of certainty — that the second book outsold the first 2-to-1. Keep in mind (and here I’m talking to this site’s audience more than you, Alan) that the decision makers are looking at book sales _comparatively_ amongst other titles.

The metric matters, people. You may not be able to do much about it, but it matters none the less.

Publishers and retailers use Nielsen BookScan because it’s the only source of honest real cash register sales and is usually 75-90 percent correct, so it’s not difficult to extrapolate up to a more accurate total.

Why would publishers turn to BookScan rather than to their own internal numbers? In many cases publishers need sales figures for books they haven’t published themselves, as I’ve described in this post — and BookScan supplies that information.

Also in my experience, internal numbers are not always 100 percent accurate since they never seem to catch up with returns, statements get lost, and the accountings are incomplete or have mistakes in them.

You’re right about what your friend should do. She would definitely sell more books in the back of the room immediately before or after she speaks, and that’s exactly how most writers I know do it.

-Alan

Nielsen is eager, I’m told, to sign up as many participants as possible. They do have-big box stores on board, and are aiming not for a cross-section, but rather a full accounting.

I can only assume that Wal-Mart has not joined on because they march to their own drummer. Wal-Mart is a special case for publishers. They may place a large order for a single title, in the tens of thousands, but on a test basis. If the books don’t perform quickly as expected, Wal-Mart may return them within a few weeks. On the other hand, if it all works, they can sell a lot of books and results can be important.

Also, keep in mind that Wal-Mart features mainly big blockbuster mass-market titles plus a few books relating to cooking and home repair. So authors who are trying to figure out if their BookScan numbers accurately reflect their total sales, need to keep in mind where their titles are sold. Wal-Mart may not be a factor.

-Alan