Amazon Sales Rankings - amazing data!

[Cadfan]

Also, his statement was false. ~5500 is not "about as well" as ~2700, according to explanations of the sales ranking data already given in the thread.

And of course, yes, the gift set is a factor.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Not if you factor in what Charles Ryan pointed out about the 4e Gift Set and the individual books being on the list as separate entries.

Yes the gift set is selling better than the others but I am not surprised as it is still the new edition. But the fact that the individual 3.5 DMG ranks above the 4e DMG and the PHB and MMs are about the same does speak to the 3.5 edition not being dead yet.

 

[Psion]

Also, his statement was false. ~5500 is not "about as well" as ~2700, according to explanations of the sales ranking data already given in the thread.

As these are rankings and not sales totals, we don't really know what numbers they correlate to. Rank #2700 might be 10% more than #5500. Or it might be 100% more.

Still, that a previous edition which is no longer being printed is even in the same ballpark as a brand new game with supposedly record-shattering sales (and with groups forming that should be driving continued follow-on sales), I find the fact that 3e's rank is even in the same ballpark pretty impressive. Even if that only represents 10% of the 4e sales.

 

[The Little Raven]

Yes the gift set is selling better than the others but I am not surprised as it is still the new edition. But the fact that the individual 3.5 DMG ranks above the 4e DMG and the PHB and MMs are about the same does speak to the 3.5 edition not being dead yet.

Yeah, nobody was saying that 3.5 is dead, but it isn't selling anywhere as well as 4e on Amazon. The fact that the 3.5 DMG is listed ahead of the 4e DMG is misleading, since with the gift set's sales, the 4e DMG is ahead of every single 3.X book on the list in sales (same with the PHB and MM as well).

 

[Erik Mona]

I particularly like how WG7 is outselling Pathfinder #15... of course, PF#15 probably isn't actually out in stores yet. Still, it's the sort of stats just designed to amuse Erik Mona.
!

Hardy har har.

Actually, I lose little sleep regarding Amazon sales rankings. They seem to be based on a sort of rolling average of sorts, and I'm convinced that a lot of our products are not tagged correctly to show up in their list of, say, the top 50 RPG products.

Enough old oddities like WG7 sneak in that I think their algorithm is completely screwed up. I see how many books Amazon orders from our distributor, and I'm a lot happier with those numbers than I am with the rankings, which often change dramatically throughout a week or even a day.

Also, I just learned today that all of our game products are being bought by Amazon's novels buyer, and that we're apparently not even on the radar of their game buyer. _That's_ the sort of data designed just to amuse Erik Mona, because our Amazon sales are pretty good as it is and are poised to get better.

But yes, we sell a large percentage of our books direct to the consumer, so those sales do not show up in rankings like this.

I basically ignore Amazon sales rankings as anything other than a curiosity.

--Erik

 

[DaveMage]

But the fact that the individual 3.5 DMG ranks above the 4e DMG...

That's hilarious!!!

Any core 3.5 book should be magnitudes lower than any 4E at this point.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

Sales data never means much. Only because it doesnt and cant take into account how many people liked their product. I for one bought the core 4e set and both FR books. And I like none of them.

I'll use the WII as an example too. They are in hot demand. I know alot of people that have them, infact most of the people I know have them. Only 1 likes it, the rest found it boring after about 2 months. Whereas the lesser demanded ps3 and 360 all have rave reviewed games and ive not met one dissatisfied owner. Sure the sales data says WII is winning but satisfaction in my neck of the woods says otherwise.
And inyour neck of the wood its going to say different.
Cant trust any of it, I guess is what Im getting at.

 

[hexgrid]

This is what I've learned from various EN World threads on this topic:

Amazon sales rank means nothing... unless it happens to back up an idea you find appealing!

 

[MerricB]

Enough old oddities like WG7 sneak in that I think their algorithm is completely screwed up. I see how many books Amazon orders from our distributor, and I'm a lot happier with those numbers than I am with the rankings, which often change dramatically throughout a week or even a day.

Indeed. Including WG7 really demonstrated how utterly bizarre the rankings are.

Also, I just learned today that all of our game products are being bought by Amazon's novels buyer, and that we're apparently not even on the radar of their game buyer. _That's_ the sort of data designed just to amuse Erik Mona, because our Amazon sales are pretty good as it is and are poised to get better.

Odd. Very odd.

But yes, we sell a large percentage of our books direct to the consumer, so those sales do not show up in rankings like this.

And that is very true.

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

Thanks a lot Merric... you had to go and put my installment of Pathfinder on the list below WG7. I mean I like Poppinfarsh and all, but c'mon.

Anyway... these sales ranks mean very little to us in terms of our business model, as has been noted by a number of other posters in this thread.

G'day, Jason!

There was a time a while back when someone was arguing that 1e pdf sales were outstripping 3e sales based on the rankings of one site... the only site that sold 1e pdfs at that point. Or something like that. They couldn't see how that distorted the rankings.

In Paizo's case, if the majority of your online sales aren't directly through your website, I'll be very surprised indeed. Indeed, I was somewhat surprised to see them listed on Amazon at all... though I really shouldn't have been.

In any case, there are a couple of issues of PF currently winging their way across the ocean to me, so I look forward to seeing your issue when it arrives.

Cheers!