Low Feedback Business

I am amazed at how litte feedback I get in relation to how my books are doing in relation to unit sales, etc. Other that periodic statements it is almost a black hole. I can do searches etc. and find placements in libraries, but there is really nothing official until my statements come in.

I can get some reports from iUniverse, but that is not where the bulk of my volume exists. I think this situation with traditional publishers is strange and may lead to some of the frustration that authors feel, especially those that are not huge sellers. It's hard to know if your marketing efforts are paying off until months later.

What kind of feedback are you getting on how your books are doing?

I got the worst commision check I have ever received.

My book had a good two year run and is now dead in the water.

I have no plans to market it or to write anymore books. I have a lot of books to read.

I worked as hard as I could on my book--I am glad I spent no more time on it. I am glad I wrote it.

I used to check in with Ingrams until they made it a toll call. I check in occasionally at Amazon and B&N to see what my ranking is. The rank itself means nothing, but the variations indicate sales. I wasn't surprised at the drop in my last check. It's time to move ahead. For a first book, I'm satisfied.

But I agree that the feedback isn't what it could be.

Ann

Tracking sales isn't a problem for authors signed up with commercail publishers. Royalties tied to book sales are associated with academic books and POD books. An advance is paid to the author in lump sums irrespective of the number of books sold. A 30,000 print run might sell 10,000 copies in the first few months but the first payment won't be a third of the advance. Book sales recoup costs for the publisher (including the advance that is sometimes not earned out) and only after those costs have been covered will any royalties be paid to the author.

Shellagh, that's what I am referring too. I was paid an advance for my audio book. My statements are every 6 months and then the publisher has up to 90 days after the end of the 6 months to send a statement/check. That is a 9 month window. Most paper books deals are 90 day statement periods with 30 to 60 days for statements, that's 4 to 5 months.

I know about earning out an advance, but I don't just leave it up to the publisher to push unit sales. With blind periods of that length, it's hard to know if your marketing is hitting the target without the ability to get quicker feedback. I see earning out the advance as a baseline. If the publisher was on target, they expected to get the advance back. My goal is to push the sales as far beyond the advance unit payback as possible and turn the statement into a check. I also deal with audio downloads and rentals which are impossible to track, each of those has its own royalty rate or fee.

Perhaps there needs to be some way to track these sales if the publisher expects the author to do marketing.

Carol

Good point Carol.
If a publisher is primarily focused on sales to its authors, they have no reason to be concerned about marketing efforts. For a publisher that is dependent on sales via Amazon or other commercial outlets, they are concerned/interested. They did the upfront investment on the book and are not just interested in getting their investment back but also a profit. These publishers do provide good author support. I'm not talking about the big houses but the smaller publishers who rely on the author to help in advancing the promotion of their book(s).
How to track it? I don't know. Sales is normally the general indicator. From what marketing effort produced what results seems to be the dilemma.