Novelrank has a reputation for accuracy.

Yet as shown in previous posts recently, by their own admission it is in fact far from accurate with Kindle sales in the top one hundred. In our case they under-estimated our sales by a ridiiculous margin!

It begs the question:

How many writers out there have been thinking about taking the plunge with e-publishing, but have looked at the alleged sales figures of the high-ranking sellers on Amazon Kindle and thought, “Is that it? Big deal! Why bother?“

Worst still, perhaps, consider this:

How many prospective agents, or indeed publishers, have seen high-flying "indie" authors apparently with a hot property doing well on Kindle, only to check Novelrank’s famously accurate sales figures, and then spent the rest of the day reminding their colleagues why the e-publishing revolution is all a figment of some deluded wannabe’s imagination?

And how much worse still if that author has told the agent his / her sales figures, as part of a submission, only to have said agent check with Novelrank and dismiss the author as a liar…

Hopefully that’s never happened, and hopefully it never will.

But why would an agent question Novelrank’s figures, any more than anyone else?

It begs the question, what exactly is the point of Novelrank if it can’t give the figures that matter?

As Kindle authors we have direct access to our own sales figures at any time. We all know how many we are selling.

Novelrank purports to offer that same information to everyone else.

But surely no-one, apart from the author, is much interested if a book is ranked 100,000th and their sales are in single figures.

It is only the sellers in the higher ranks that will be of interest to third parties, and especially to prospective agents and publishers.

Yet these are precisely the figures Novelrank, by their own admission, cannot get right!

Don't get left behind by the e-publishing revolution.

There's never been a more exciting time to be a writer!

http://www.markwilliamsinternational.com

Stephen Leather, as many of you will know, has held the top places in the Kindle UK store for what seems like an eternity.

Stephen comments on Facebook today, in response to the Novelrank debate about understating sales.

His words: "Novelrank shows my monthly sales at 427. Today I have sold my 10,000th copy of The Basement this month!"

Now that's understatement!

Mario Lurig, Novelrank creator, has added to the debate on the blog (www.markwilliamsinternational.com).

Don't get left behind by the e-publishing revolution.

There's never been a more exciting time to be a writer!

http://www.markwilliamsinternational.com