If there are any bookstore sales, it’s trackable. If you are planning to push your book sales via the cyber stores, i.e., Amazon, iPad, B&N, it’s trackable. Get your name and book out there so that you get recorded as having sales. Sales that come directly from you or on your website definitely go to the bank account and you know how many books are sold, but no one else does.
Plus, when a store is looking your title up if a customer asks for it, you are found. Plus, Plus, if a publisher decides you are “pursuable,” it will most likely check to see if there are any “measurable” sales.
This is one of the key steps that most self-published and independent authors consistently by-pass. Don’t. Get visible on BookScan.
Pull all of your book data into one place: title, subtitle, price, ISBN, eBook ISBN, eBook price, trim size, page count, word count, category, age group– into book ISBN fields at www.MyIdentifiers.com (this will start the process of getting your book’s data out to the world and make it easier for the sales to be tracked by Nielsen Bookscan.) Do not skip this!
Even if your intent is to not sell you books primarily via brick and mortar bookstores, it doesn’t matter. If you are planning any marketing or publicity, you need to be seen and appear EVERYWHERE. It’s the smart thing to do.
Judith Briles is known as The Book Shepherd(www.TheBookShepherd.com), an author and book publishing expert and the Founder of Author U (www.AuthorU.org), a membership organization created for the author who wants to be seriously successful. She’s been writing about and conducting workshops on publishing since the 80s. Judith is the author of 30 books including Show Me About Book Publishing, co-written with John Kremer and Rick Frishman and a speaker at publishing conferences. Her latest, Author YOU: Creating and Building Your Author and Book Platforms is just being released. Join Judith live on Thursdays at 6 p.m. EST for Your Guide to Book publishing on the www.RockStarRadioNetwork.com. Follow @AuthorU and @MyBookShepherd on Twitter and do a “Like” at AuthorU and TheBookShepherd on Facebook. If you want to create a book that has no regrets, contact her at Judith@Briles.com.