Where can I find sales numbers for books? (for example 'One taste' by
Ken Wilber sold X-copies)

Hello again Qpet,
 
Thank you for your question.


Where can I find sales numbers for books? 
(For example 'One taste' by Ken Wilber sold X-copies)


You can call Ingram’s "Freddie" line at 615-213-6803. 

Enter the ISBN and select option #3; 

You will hear a computer-voice telling you stock status in how many
Ingram warehouses; how many were sold this year and last year.
http://www.finebooks.net/Tips/Ingram_sales.htm
http://www.efulfillmentservice.com/publisher.htm


To obtain the ISBN number of “One Taste” by Ken Wilber I went to
Amazon.com
 
One Taste: Daily Reflections on Integral Spirituality
by Ken Wilber
ISBN: 1570625476 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1570625476/qid=1054941240/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/102-6101053-1564936


I called 615-213-6803, entered ISBN 1570625476 and they gave me the
following numbers:

Total sales this year: 144
Total sales last year: 379

In order to calculate the total number of books sold, industry
analysts apply a multiplier of between 6 and 10 to the Ingram numbers.

Total sales this year would be in the range of 864 to 1440 copies
sold.

Total sales last year would be in the range of 2274 - 3790 copies
sold.


=========================================================


Another option is Nielsen BookScan. This appears to be a fee based
service.


Description:

“The definitive retail monitoring service for books
Nielsen BookScan is the international sales data monitoring and
analysis service for the English-language book industry worldwide.

Nielsen BookScan was established in May 2002 by combining the
BookTrack business in the UK, the BookScan business in the US and the
BookTrack/AC Nielsen joint venture in Australia. The change is part of
a move to standardise the UK, Australian and US book sales products
allowing for global integration of book sales data.”

“It is the world's first continuous retail sales monitoring service
for books. In a typical week BookScan collects over 140,000 different
titles representing £20million from over 6,200 retailers who form the
Total Consumer Market panel.”

Nielsen Book Scan
http://www.booktrack.co.uk/?pid=1


You may request information using the form they provide here:
http://www.booktrack.co.uk/?pid=110


=========================================================


Search Criteria:

Find OR search book sales
Find OR search number of books sold
Book sales search
Book sales statistics
Book sales by title


I hope this helps. As always, if anything is unclear please request
clarification.


Best Regards,
Bobbie7-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by qpet-ga on 06 Jun 2003 19:28 PDT

I tried what you suggested, it worked very well. How certain are you
about the 6-10 multiplier? Is this a common way to get sales numbers?

---

Clarification of Answer by bobbie7-ga on 06 Jun 2003 20:22 PDT

Dear Qpet,


How certain are you about the 6-10 multiplier? Is this a common way to
get sales numbers?

This may possibly be a common method to get sales numbers.

Please take a look at the question “Book Sales Statistics“ answered in
December by another researcher.
http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=133616

This researcher stated that “the standard multiplier used to estimate
system-wide sales is 6.”

He then checked the multiplier with an author-friend and found out
that his agent actually uses a multiplier of 10.

Therefore an estimate between 6 and 10 would be a good approximation.

I hope this helps.

Sincerely,
Bobbie7

Thanks for the clarification!

Qpet,
Thank you for the 5 star rating!
--Bobbie7