Thursday, March 19, 2009

Book Prices And Sales

The price of my book at Amazon keeps fluctuating. It’s now £8.57 after being £12.99 yesterday. I’m not sure why that happens. And look at those (currently) eleven new copies with marketplace sellers – discarded review and promo copies? A few of them are based in the USA. Strange, but strange only because I don’t really know how these things work.

Book sales in Europe are up, despite the recession. Seems strange also, but apparently the same thing has happened during previous recessions here.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Well on a heartening note it does say: 'Only 1 left in stock--order soon' so it's selling well..?

Rob said...

I'm never sure whether that's serious or not, or if it's just to persuade people to buy quickly.

Rob said...

If anyone buys the book from Amazon when the status says "only one left in stock," let me know and I'll check to see if it still says that afterwards!

Rob said...

There are now "5 left in stock." So four have appeared in the past 90 minutes.

Rik said...

Rob - stop worrying! The Amazon figures are mostly meaningless. Two sales and you'll see your book climb half a million spaces.

The pricing depends entirely on what the Amazon Pricing Genie decides it should be today - if the APG enjoyed a good night out and an extra couple bottles of red when s/he got home, then your book might find itself discounted until the nurofen kicks in and what passes for reality in APG-land returns.

And those used'n'new from the resellers? They haven't touched a page of your newest baby. They're just a bunch of shysters who jump on every new Amazon listing with a cheap offer of used'n'new - only when somebody's stupid enough to order a copy from them will they order a copy from salt - and then charge about £25 for the p'n'p stuff.

Thus is life ...

BTW - if you want to know where the review copies go, keep an eye on eBay. Just saying ...

Rob said...

Rik, I'm intrigued, not in any sense worried. The whole system seems a bit crazy, doesn't it?

However, it's reassuring to know that the Amazon Pricing Genie really exists, because I've heard some people no longer believe in it.