Amazon.com and Amazon.ca (Canada) – Sales Rank Updates Linked?

Canada Flag That’s so weird! Looking over recent logs since enabling every international Amazon domain for sales rank tracking, I have a built in check to make sure that sales rank was actually updated that hour. Amazon isn’t perfect, and they don’t always update sales rank information every hour. The funny thing is, whenever Amazon.com has no new updates that hour, Amazon.ca (Canada) also has no updates. These are the only two that seem to work in tandem, and also are the most frequently behind in their updates.

On any given day, Amazon.com and Amazon.ca fail to update their rankings 8 times in a 24 hour period! That’s 33% of the time where the hour is skipped! In contrast, all of Amazon’s other domains miss about 1 update in any given 24 hour period (4% of the time). Granted, Amazon.com has the largest selection and also includes the entire Kindle Edition book inventory, so there is a lot of processing to do. However, Amazon probably has a notably greater amount of resources dedicated to Amazon.com. So what’s the deal with Amazon.ca?

I’m not an expert on Amazon’s history, but my guess is that Amazon.ca was an easy extension of Amazon.com, and prior to them launching ‘across the pond’, the infrastructure was probably very closely linked together because of sheer geographical proximity. Those ties are still seen today it seems. I’m not really complaining… well, I am a little, because 33% is pretty poor, but it was interesting enough I had to mention it. Anyone else have a theory why Amazon Canada would have its core sales rank info inexorably linked to the primary Amazon.com?

Update: 3pm

Let’s be clear, a sale on .ca does not mean a sale on .com, they are completely independent of each other. The ranks move separately (the actual numbers), but when they are updated by Amazon is absolutely linked.

Germany, France, and Japan Sales Rank Data

Woohoo! NovelRank now supports tracking on Amazon.de (Germany), Amazon.fr (France), and Amazon.co.jp (Japan) to get your sales rank data. It’s opt-in when you submit your book for tracking by checking the ‘Additional domains’ checkbox. Even better, you can simply click on the ‘Additional Domains’ text and it will check the box for you, because who wants to aim their cursor at a tiny box!

I’m a fan of what Aaron Shepard has provided for years at SalesRankExpress.com. It really is the most robust snap-shot of information you can get on any of Amazon’s domains. He’s also very clear that he doesn’t do tracking over time, which is perfectly fine since that’s where NovelRank can step in. Looking around though, nobody was providing sales rank data over time for .de, .fr, and .co.jp. Heck, till NovelRank started doing it, nobody was tracking .ca (Canada) either! Well, it was a small step to enable this within NovelRank, and I’m very happy to announce it’s availability. Whether it is called Sales Rank, Classement parmi les ventes, Verkaufsrang, or ランキング (yup, completely borrowed that idea from Aaron), it’s all available on NovelRank.

Charting has been updated to represent the new domains, but any books that have already been added and want to track their sales data on Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, and Amazon.co.jp, will need to resubmit their book for tracking. Be advised, the default view (nothing expanded) for your book may seem a little cluttered if your book is available at all 6 domains (and has sold at least one book so that a sales rank is present). Here are two visual aids:

Coders at Work - All Domains

Crush It! - English Domains

Of course, with a large screen resolution (many visitors fit in this category), this won’t be an issue, but worth a mention none-the-less. NovelRank aims to be the best resource for authors tracking their sales rank data, and that can only happen with your help. Use the social networking links below to share this with friends, retweet, and post on author forums you engage with. Word of mouth not only helps sell books, but also helps NovelRank keep up with the costs for hosting this website when someone clicks through to Amazon from your book’s page on NovelRank and buys a copy. Thanks in advance and enjoy the new domains!

NovelRank Launches Sales Rank Tracking

NovelRank and its creator are proud to announce the official launch of NovelRank, a free website for Amazon sales rank tracking. NovelRank offers authors the opportunity to get real-time feedback about their promotion efforts towards book sales on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca (Canada), and Amazon.co.uk (United Kingdom). While direct sales through author’s websites and self-publishing websites such as Lulu, CreateSpace, BookSurge, Lightning Source, AuthorHouse, and others offer immediate sales data, book sales data through distribution sources such as Amazon is typically delayed many months.

Many readers purchase through Amazon.com, the leading online bookseller, after seeing coverage in the media, on the web, and on social networking websites, leading to increased book sales for the author. Without real-time sales rank tracking through NovelRank, authors are left guessing if there was a positive effect from the book’s coverage, not knowing where to spend their time and resources in the continued promotion of their paperback, hardcover, or audio book. NovelRank takes it a step farther by offering estimated sales data based on changes in Amazon sales rank.

As a completely free to use and ad-free website, NovelRank provides a risk-free option for authors publishing their first, second, or seventh book. Authors with large publishing agencies promoting their books also find the tool useful, since royalty information and sales information is typically delayed or unavailable from their publisher. There are no required logins or accounts, and a full suite of useful methods for sales rank tracking through the use of RSS feeds, spreadsheet downloads, sales rank widget, and direct website access.

Created by an author, for authors, NovelRank‘s goals are to provide the best resource on the web for authors wanting to turn their passion into profits through sales rank tracking and estimated book sales data. A full list of current and future features are available on the NovelRank website.

Get started today by tracking your book!

National Novel Writing Month: NaNoWriMo (November 2009)

Go ahead, say it out loud: NaNoWriMo. Fun, isn’t it?

This handy abbreviation represent November, otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month. Authors across the world challenge themselves to write 1667 words a day (50,000+ words for the month) creating their novel. Why? Here’s an excerpt:

“Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.”

Many say they want to write a book, but many ever get themselves to that step. NaNoWriMo forces them to put words to page, regardless of how regrettable some of those words may be. There is a saying by writers participating in the November challenge: “Editing is for December.” Sure, not everything will become a classic novel of notoriety and fame (most won’t even make it to the mediocre step), but that’s not the point. Write. Because you love it. Because life is better when you can say, “I’m an author.” Listen to the ring of that. It’s fantastic.

Personally, I’ll be working on a fiction book that has been in my head for a year now. Eventually, I will self-publish it either on Lulu or through CreateSpace, but there will be a lot of editing in 2010 before that becomes a reality. Without NaNoWriMo, I’d never take the time to do it. You should do it as well. It’s worth it. There are support groups, regional get-togethers, write-a-thons, competitions, prizes… everything you would need to get words to paper. Then, once you have it published on Amazon, you can track your Sales Rank on NovelRank. Crazy right? Maybe. Worth it? Absolutely.