D&D 5E 3 Years Later: D&D's total Domination on Amazon (and Earth in General)

[robus]

Go take a physics course.

If you write an answer of 5 on your test, you do not get full credit.

You need to write 5 kilograms. Without units, data means nothing.

The term "no true data or analysis" (nice cherry picking on what was written) meant "incomplete information" in that sentence. It does not have to mean that the data is false, it can mean that the data is incomplete. I'm sorry that you want to be some type of literalist and pick a fight, but sorry, I don't want to fight with you today.

The OP was simply making an observation which is totally legit. The inference that can be made from the observation is that the PHB (at least) is still selling very well through Amazon - which is great for an older product facing a lot of competition.

There's not much more to it than that.

 

[Jester David]

So again, what does "recent sales" mean?

The last 8 hours?

The last 24 hours?

We're uncertain. But Amazon sales rankings change frequently, often within a single week.
I checked to see where the Critical Role: Tal'Dorei book was just yesterday (and Starfinder) and they've since changed. And I checked it a few times last week as well, and it was different then too.

So it's updated fairly frequently. I doubt it's real time, but it could update as infrequently as every other day or as frequently as every couple hours.

-edit-
Actually, it says at the top of the Bestseller list it's updated hourly. So, it's had sustained high sales for three years to continually be in the top 100.

 

[robus]

[MENTION=32867]jeff[/MENTION] Alberston, you keep quoting me, but I can't see any of your posts because you have me on your ignore list. if you want me on ignore, that's fine, I don't mind. But then stop quoting me a couple times a day. This has to be at least the fourth or fifth time I've posted this in the past month. All I get is a notification you quoted me, but the post is hidden. So either keep me on ignore and ignore me, or take me off ignore so I can see what you're replying to me. Obviously you can see my posts. Choose one or the other already.

wait - he actually comments? I thought he just laughed at most everything?!

 

[lkj]

If the reverse engineered algorithm these folks describe is correct:

https://selfpublishingadvice.org/amazon-sales-rank-taming-the-algorithm/

It's essentially a weighted moving window, with more recent sales more heavily weighted. If the weighting is truly divided by two daily, it's not far off an essentially instantaneous snapshot (i.e., represents the past few days).

Hope this helps.

AD

Edit: Of course if a book is selling extremely well then the lag will be longer (i.e., the higher the number of sales on a given day the longer it takes for those sales to stop having a meaningful influence on the current rank)

 

[Jester David]

Sure sounds like that's exactly what you're doing. The OP provided data. No reason to suspect that is false data in any way, and I think it makes sense. And yet, you immediately dismiss it like it's some sort of lie, then have the audacity to try to position yourself as a neutral party immediately proceeding to insult people as cheerleaders who are biased in favor of Amazon and can't see things objectively.

If you don't think those numbers are accurate and the data isn't "true", then I anxiously await your counter evidence.

DUDE!
Uncool, man.

He was just curious how recent recent was.
He's not saying the data's false or dismissing it in any way. He just wants to know the scope.

 

[Morrus]

The overall ranking is impressive. I'm not sure we should pay much attention to its ranking in "Fantasy Gaming", though. If D&D wasn't the best selling fantasy game, WotC would be doing something *really* wrong. That position is theirs by default, unless they screw up.

 

[discosoc]

It's amazing just how much more expensive it is to buy from a local store.

 

[robus]

It's amazing just how much more expensive it is to buy from a local store.

Or it's shocking just how much discounting Amazon is willing to suffer in order to win sales. Really at this point the selection and convenience is the huge win. The discount is now like kicking stores when they're down, borderline abusive!

 

[Sacrosanct]

DUDE!
Uncool, man.

He was just curious how recent recent was.
He's not saying the data's false or dismissing it in any way. He just wants to know the scope.

You obviously missed this part of his post then:

If this is a cheerleader feel good thread with no true data or analysis, fine. I will get off it. It doesn't mean that WotC won't fold next year. Cheerleader away.

 

[Mistwell]

DUDE!
Uncool, man.

He was just curious how recent recent was.
He's not saying the data's false or dismissing it in any way. He just wants to know the scope.

He said it was incomplete data because he didn't know what the secret Amazon algorithm looks like. That's disingenuous on its face. He then called us cheerleaders for not being able to tell him how the data is calculated (IE what Amazon's secret algorithm looks like). That's a gadfly. I appreciate you sympathy for him, but he doesn't deserve any for this thread. If he wanted genuine responses to his inquiries, he would have proposed genuine questions rather than questions he knows going in are impossible to answer.