Last night, just before I ordered 20 copies of ebcb, my Amazon ranking was 96,026.
It's been steadily falling ever since. It's now 123,215. What does this mean?
Has every other book in the world been selling extraordinarily well? Is the ranking just a random number generator? Do they somehow penalise you for bulk orders? Are they deliberately trying to destroy the morale of authors for some unclear but evil reason? Or is it all just statistical sloshing around at the bottom of the rankings barrel?
I don't know. But I'm not pleased.
UPDATE: Maybe this is a clue. I got this email last night: "We are sorry to report that the following items have been delayed: Russell Davies (Author) "Egg, Bacon, Chips and Beans: 50 Great Cafes and the Stuff That Makes Them Great" [Hardcover] Estimated arrival date: 03/03/08 - 06/03/08". That might explain the rankings disaster. Maybe they're not counted as sales yet. For some reason I have an image in my head now of an Amazon man in a flat cap and a brown warehouse coat sending a boy on a bicycle round to HarperCollins for a parcel of books wrapped up in brown paper and string.
Do you think it might just take views of the book's Amazon page into account?! I know it shouldn't, but the behaviour of the numbers is consistent.
You're previous posts would have driven loads of views of the book on Amazon (but not orders, because people are taking up your offer). And ever since its been tailing off. And the 20 purchases would only be represented by your 1 page view.
Sounds far fetched! Maybe you could test the theory (unless there's a really obvious reason why it can't be right) by organising a sort of digital flash mob, where loads of us hit the page at a certain time?!
Posted by: Rob | February 21, 2008 at 11:57 PM
Makes no sense to me either - my anecdotal understanding was that their long tail was very long and very slender and an order for 20 books should make a huge difference.
I can only imagine that your order hasn't fed through to the rankings yet (would they have 20 copies in stock?) or maybe they see bulk orders as gaming the rankings and penalise you.
Posted by: John | February 22, 2008 at 12:19 AM
Do you nkow how reactive Amazon's algorithm is? I would be surprised if it were immediate - I would guess that it is working on at least 24 hour old information. But I have no information to verify my claim, so who knows...
Posted by: Simon | February 22, 2008 at 12:53 AM
they're on to you russell.
Posted by: Dino | February 22, 2008 at 04:51 AM
Also, perhaps a single customer buying 20 copies is not the valuable to its ranking system as 20 customers each buying a copy?
Posted by: Bobbie | February 22, 2008 at 09:34 AM
This article is pretty old but suggests that the lower your ranking, the less frequently it is updated. Sales history is also a factor...
http://tinyurl.com/38clb3
Posted by: Reuben | February 22, 2008 at 11:08 AM