Innaccurate BookScan Numbers and the Plight of the Author – Colleen Doran digs into the sales numbers listed in Amazon’s Author Central. These are based on the Nielson BookScan service also used as a bible by major publishers to determine the success of failure of your backlist titles if done by another publisher. We have LONG argued that the Nielson BookScan service does not reflect the majority of books sold. It seems this author agrees. I don’t know how often a publisher has quoted a minuscule number as the “bookscan” number of a client’s previous title saying, “those numbers are awfully weak.” Bu I have in my hand the royalty statement showing ten times that number sold. If curious it is due to the fact that Nielson BookScan can only count the sales from reporting stores.
5 Things Radio Guests Do Wrong (And 7 Ways to Rock the Radio) – Every author who has done or will do a radio interview needs to read this post by Brad Phillips. Brilliant advice.
5 Book Marketing Tips from The Hobbit – Jan Bear has written this clever post. No, one of the tips is not “Shave your feet.”
How to Create Suspense in Your Novel – by Lee Child, NY Times bestselling author. This is from the New York Times so may require registration to read.
I Love This Post about Book Printing! – I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to the book production process. If you never watched a video on it or visited a printing plant, go to this post by Irene Gallo of Tor Books where she has a series of photos showing how the new Robert Jordan fantasy novel came off the presses.
Top 10 Rules of Space Opera – If you love space opera like I do (think Star Wars if you are unfamiliar with the term) you’ll appreciate this post by Annalee Newitz.
