Expert: Cathy Clamp - 2/14/2008

Question
My publisher recently confided that he settled a case in which one of his writers accused the company of not reporting all of her sales.  To that point, I doubted my sales were being reported accurately, because my books seem to be everywhere, but my royalties are unimpressive.  His admission has given me more reason for concern, and now I wonder if I am being too trusting.

I follow my rankings on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and I'm doing quite well there.  Of my five books, two are regularly at the top of the charts in sales (of books in their genre).    

I feel a great deal of loyalty to my publisher.  They gave me my start and have commissioned several books since.  Still, I wonder why others whose books don't seem to be doing as well as mine also seem to be enjoying more financial security.  Is there a way to track my sales overall rather than relying on the individual booksellers' sites?

Thanks a million!!

Answer
Hi, Suzanne!  

This is something that most of us struggle with. There are a few things you can do to check on sales---but they depend on what sort of publisher you're with. So, I'll address them all to give you some ideas, because Amazon and B&N sales ranks don't mean much in the real world. Nobody's quite sure how they compile their "rankings" and from watching them myself, they seem to vary wildly from day to day, even if I prompt the site by ordering a copy to see what happens. Sometimes it'll lower the rank, sometimes not. It's weird, and frustrating. But here are some things you can do:

1.  Ebook publisher. First, is your publisher a member of EPIC (Electronically Published Internet Connection?) If so, does the contract you signed with them adhere to their recommended guidelines? (http://www.epicauthors.com/contract.html) If so, then check to see if you have a paragraph in your contract which allows you to audit their books. I'm not saying you SHOULD at this moment, but if you don't have that ability right now, then you need to make sure it's inserted in your next deal. The language on the EPIC site is a good place to start.  Next, did you sign a "list price" contract or a "net sales" contract? It might be that your royalties are being eaten up by the difference between the list price and whatever the publisher determines are "costs of sale." If other authors are doing better, they might well have a list price contract, which would explain it. If not, then we can move on. Do you have email addys for any of the other authors? Could you ask them privately (NOT on a publisher-sponsored board) if they also have concerns?  Sometimes, it's not until authors start talking to each other that they start to notice odd things.

2.  Small Press/Subsidy Press. I hope the publisher isn't PublishAmerica, because if it is, you're not alone in questioning their accounting methods. It used to be a little easier to do searching of sales for them, because an author could contact Lightning Sources (the printer) directly to ask for a list of places shipped to. But no more, since PA got their own digital press. Now it's tossing a straw into the wind and hoping for the best. They're not even distributed ("distribution" isn't the same as "wholesale availability") so the books can't be tracked through more traditional means. In that case, an audit really IS your only method to find out unless you quite literally have friends and family across the country go into a store and buy ONE copy of the book and then wait to see the results in the next royalty period.

3.  Medium/Large Press. Now, this is much easier to find out stuff. Here are a few things you can do.  First, contact Ingram's Stock Status line. Ingram's is one of the major wholesaler/distributor companies out there. Most every medium and large press puts books with Ingram's, and anyone can call to check on ACTUAL sales of the title. Then you can compare it against what the royalty statement said. You can reach them (toll-free) at:  1-800-937-8000. Press 4 to enter an extension. The extension for the stock line is 36803. You'll get another recording asking you to enter the ISBN using your keypad. Select option 1 and then option 3 to get the data. If the book is in their system, you'll get the number of books on hand (in their warehouse,) the number on order (from bookstores,) the number shipped (called demand) and the number actually sold---both for this year and last.  The next thing you can do is see if you can find someone who has access to Nielsen BookScan. This is a list of sales, by ISBN of nearly every book sold in major bookstores and secondary markets (WalMart, Target, groceries.) Not every publisher buys every list because it's REALLY expensive, but if you're in one of the common genres (bookstore shelving) I could probably find someone with the information if you want to send me your ISBN.

Other than that, it's pretty much a crap shoot. It helps to have an agent watch out for this, but when you're going it alone, it can be trickier. Hope that helps a little and let me know if I can help any further. Good luck! :)

Cathy