Jim Minatel of Wiley wrote to Shel Israel and me this morning with some sales figures from our book. Seems that they are selling pretty well on Amazon and other places all of a sudden and he was seeing if we had a theory about why. He says that a spike in sales counter to the trends almost never happens in the publishing industry.
Neither of us could explain it until I saw Amazon’s page for Chris Anderson’s new book, the Long Tail, which is at #2 right now on Amazon. On that page our book was also listed as a good book to buy along with the Long Tail.
Is the Long Tail wagging Naked? Hmmm. Sure looks like it. Amazon has us listed at #346 right now. We’ve never been that high in the rankings. That’s out of 4.5 million books.
Shel has the details over on Naked Conversations blog.
Scobleizer 
I won’t say I’m jealous, but, I’m jealous – oops, I said it.
The power of that association is rather amazing. I was misquoted in an Associated Press article and my book’s title, incorrectly sited – and yet, my book ranking on Amazon shot way up – right behind Bolles – What Color Is Your Parachute under career books.
On Amazon, another book was misquoted, some sex guide was categorized under careers and my book was right next to in the standings. I wasn’t sure if that was good for me or bad – or maybe a sign.
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I won’t say I’m jealous, but, I’m jealous – oops, I said it.
The power of that association is rather amazing. I was misquoted in an Associated Press article and my book’s title, incorrectly sited – and yet, my book ranking on Amazon shot way up – right behind Bolles – What Color Is Your Parachute under career books.
On Amazon, another book was misquoted, some sex guide was categorized under careers and my book was right next to in the standings. I wasn’t sure if that was good for me or bad – or maybe a sign.
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Congratulations, Robert, to you and Shel both. That we should all be so well wagged!
I’m curious whether you (or your readers) know just *how* the “Better Together” feature works on Amazon. Is it editorial? Is it algorhythm-based? (my guess) What factors into it and is there a way to influence it? Does this have anything to do with some thing that you and Shel *did*?
And Matthew — I’m sure that last book is a sign that your book is very sexy.
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You’re in good company-
I just received Anderson’s book yesterday, and it’s incredible. Naked and Long Tail make a good pair (aside from the obvious double entendre giggle factor)-
both of them describe the amazing transformation our culture is experiencing right now, unbeknownst to so many. As a matter of fact , Long Tail puts a pretty interesting framework around Naked Conversations, and shows the blogging phenomenon as one of a myriad of decentralizing earthquakes that are happening all over the place.
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Congratulations, Robert, to you and Shel both. That we should all be so well wagged!
I’m curious whether you (or your readers) know just *how* the “Better Together” feature works on Amazon. Is it editorial? Is it algorhythm-based? (my guess) What factors into it and is there a way to influence it? Does this have anything to do with some thing that you and Shel *did*?
And Matthew — I’m sure that last book is a sign that your book is very sexy.
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You’re in good company-
I just received Anderson’s book yesterday, and it’s incredible. Naked and Long Tail make a good pair (aside from the obvious double entendre giggle factor)-
both of them describe the amazing transformation our culture is experiencing right now, unbeknownst to so many. As a matter of fact , Long Tail puts a pretty interesting framework around Naked Conversations, and shows the blogging phenomenon as one of a myriad of decentralizing earthquakes that are happening all over the place.
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Just wondering what/if any software you use to keep track of your book sales rank on Amazon? Are their any services that provide this info?
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Just wondering what/if any software you use to keep track of your book sales rank on Amazon? Are their any services that provide this info?
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Waggings and ripples and flowcharts, well, just good to know that the message of The Red Couch is getting out. It’s the idea of a time whose power has come, or the time of a power whose idea has come, something like that, for sure.
Can Gratu Lations, Robt.
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Waggings and ripples and flowcharts, well, just good to know that the message of The Red Couch is getting out. It’s the idea of a time whose power has come, or the time of a power whose idea has come, something like that, for sure.
Can Gratu Lations, Robt.
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Long tail is very fragmented, it can be seen at http://www.vast.com you search for whatever and get list of resources (sites) there are big sites “walled gardens” and hundreds of small sites that are trying something out… those small sites are usually “niche oriented” and much better then gigantic sites that care only for volume.
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Long tail is very fragmented, it can be seen at http://www.vast.com you search for whatever and get list of resources (sites) there are big sites “walled gardens” and hundreds of small sites that are trying something out… those small sites are usually “niche oriented” and much better then gigantic sites that care only for volume.
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Wow, Wiley is on top of it!
You probably know Naked Conversations shows up on the Amazon Long Tail page because Wiley paid for it — it’s a paid placement, and ad, and a great move!
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Wow, Wiley is on top of it!
You probably know Naked Conversations shows up on the Amazon Long Tail page because Wiley paid for it — it’s a paid placement, and ad, and a great move!
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Ted: Wiley says they didn’t pay for this and didn’t even know about it until we pointed it out to them tonight.
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Ted: Wiley says they didn’t pay for this and didn’t even know about it until we pointed it out to them tonight.
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Is there any way you can find out why your book appeared alongside Long Tail? The fit is obvious but, in my experience, there are usually more than just one additional purchase recommendations and I can see a case for, for example The Wisdom of Crowds and books on word of mouth marketing also being good companions.
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Is there any way you can find out why your book appeared alongside Long Tail? The fit is obvious but, in my experience, there are usually more than just one additional purchase recommendations and I can see a case for, for example The Wisdom of Crowds and books on word of mouth marketing also being good companions.
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Robert, I was chatting with a friend in publishing this morning, and if I’ve understood correctly, it sounds like it is *possible* to pay for placement in Amazon’s “Better Together” feature.
If it worked out for you without paying, all the better for you!
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Robert, I was chatting with a friend in publishing this morning, and if I’ve understood correctly, it sounds like it is *possible* to pay for placement in Amazon’s “Better Together” feature.
If it worked out for you without paying, all the better for you!
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Robert,
I used to track Better Together sales for titles through my Associate stats. The benefit can be as great as one “partner” copy sold for every four primary copies sold, providing the combined price gets them over the $25 free shipping barrier, both are available for 24 hour shipping, and the relationship makes sense.
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Robert,
I used to track Better Together sales for titles through my Associate stats. The benefit can be as great as one “partner” copy sold for every four primary copies sold, providing the combined price gets them over the $25 free shipping barrier, both are available for 24 hour shipping, and the relationship makes sense.
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I believe it’s an algorithm that Amazon uses because when my profs in grad school made us buy random books for courses, the books would show up as “better together” once a few people bought them in the same order.
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I believe it’s an algorithm that Amazon uses because when my profs in grad school made us buy random books for courses, the books would show up as “better together” once a few people bought them in the same order.
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“Better Together” can be purchased, but isn’t always. (Alao, publishers can reserve those slots in advance for their own products, so they can prevent someone riding their coattails on forthcoming books.) If no publisher has bought up a slot, *then* Amazon’s AI kicks in.
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“Better Together” can be purchased, but isn’t always. (Alao, publishers can reserve those slots in advance for their own products, so they can prevent someone riding their coattails on forthcoming books.) If no publisher has bought up a slot, *then* Amazon’s AI kicks in.
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Pete: Wiley told me they didn’t buy this. So, it was a random gift from Amazon. We’re not on there today and sales are already dropping off.
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Pete: Wiley told me they didn’t buy this. So, it was a random gift from Amazon. We’re not on there today and sales are already dropping off.
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Hey Robert, I bought 8 copies to distribute to Microsoft UK execs so I guess that helped 😉
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Hey Robert, I bought 8 copies to distribute to Microsoft UK execs so I guess that helped 😉
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