Nook Sales vs. Kindle Sales?

[MichaelWallace…]

I can't quite figure out why some books take off in one store and not the other. I have a friend who sells roughly 8 copies of her book on B&N for every one she buys at Amazon. Mine are the opposite. My thriller The Righteous has sold a total of 27 copies total on B&N since it's release on February 5 and sells over 150 copies a day on Amazon. It is ranked #215 on Amazon and 29,014 on B&N. I have 134 reviews for my various books on Amazon and not a single review yet on B&N.

The funny thing is, I'm a B&N shopper. Shouldn't it be the opposite? My friend owns a Kindle, but can't manage to sell anything on Amazon. The only thing I can think is that I received some positive reviews on some Kindle review blogs and this started the ball rolling, but surely this is not the entire answer.

And these aren't two isolated cases. Look at the bestseller lists on each store. Mostly different from top to bottom.

[ABthree]

@MichaelWallace23

Welcome! 

Yes, that is curious. 

There's a ton of anecdotal evidence like yours suggesting that Nook readers and Kindle readers are different, but aside from device, I can't figure out for the life of me what makes them different.

[Coanda-1910]

I would think offhand that it has more to do with how you get sales, rather than who those sales are to. A few more customers initially for one store leads to more reviews and ratings, and higher popularity, which makes people more likely to find your book by browsing, which quickly sets up a positive feedback mechanism. Word-of-mouth provides some overlap between the two stores, but even there I would expect that friends of Kindle-owners are more likely to also own Kindles, and friends of nook owners are more likely to own nooks.

[MichaelWallace…]

That's what I was thinking at first, and I'm pretty sure that what crossover I have comes from word of mouth, rather than any sort of association at B&N, because there haven't been enough purchases to make that kind of association. But it's not as much as I would expect. There are currently sixty-one people reading my book on Goodreads; these have to be almost entirely Amazon purchasers. If B&N sells 1/3 as many copies as Amazon (picking a number entirely out of my hat), then I would expect over time the numbers would become closer and closer as the initial push from one was offset in the other. Then maybe add 10-20% to one or the other to account for different search algorithms, etc.

But this isn't what seems to happen.

[John_Gaffield]

I to am a bit puzzled with the difference. One reason may be that you can have free books available at B & N, fed by Smashwords, but not as easy to have them at Amazon. I have two short stories available for free at B & N, but none at Amazon. The free short stories do allow people to become aware of your work without having to purchase anything. I know readers can download samples, but they need to be aware of the book first.

Since I have two full length novels available, I am curious about the difference in sales. My first book seems to be selling better at B & N, while the second book is the one selling better at Amazon. Not sure if it is a demographic difference or what. Also, this month's sales have been better at B & N than Amazon, though my board postings are about the same. Last month was totally different. Just a few thoughts anyway.

John T. Gaffield

Slow Down  

The Ghost of Birch River Cabin  

Heir to Winston Manor  

The Wahl House Curse  

[Shopaholic]

This is a problem that has me stumped too.  Last month my women's fiction series sold three times better at Amazon than B&N, but so far this month I have sold twice as many eBooks at B&N.  I have no idea why!  I spend an equal amount of time on the message boards for both websites and haven't had any outside publicity that would benefit one store over the other.  It's so weird!  As long as I'm selling books though, I won't complain too much.

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Secrets  

Promises  

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http://willowwriter.blogspot.com

[toesinthesand79]

Michael, I am not sure why the sales on B&N are not as high as on Amazon.  Has the book been out longer on Amazon?  I just reviewed the book as I finished it this morning.  INCREDIBLE!  I loved it.  I know that sales are slow, but I have already recommended this to three people that have Nooks and I know of one (my mom) that already bought it and it now in the process of reading it.  Will you be putting the second book on B&N anytime soon?  I really really want to read it but would prefer to buy it so I can access it on my Nook and not have to use my Kindle app on my cellphone.

Good luck!

[geatdanemomDT]

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MichaelWallace23 wrote:

I can't quite figure out why some books take off in one store and not the other. I have a friend who sells roughly 8 copies of her book on B&N for every one she buys at Amazon. Mine are the opposite. My thriller The Righteous has sold a total of 27 copies total on B&N since it's release on February 5 and sells over 150 copies a day on Amazon. It is ranked #215 on Amazon and 29,014 on B&N. I have 134 reviews for my various books on Amazon and not a single review yet on B&N.

The funny thing is, I'm a B&N shopper. Shouldn't it be the opposite? My friend owns a Kindle, but can't manage to sell anything on Amazon. The only thing I can think is that I received some positive reviews on some Kindle review blogs and this started the ball rolling, but surely this is not the entire answer.

And these aren't two isolated cases. Look at the bestseller lists on each store. Mostly different from top to bottom.

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I went and read the reviews at Amazon, they are very good. I bought the book, thanks.

[Elijah_Joon]

Well, how many people own Nooks and how many own Kindles?

[pam-livingimage]

I'm another author who sells many more novels at Amazon in comparison to B&N.  I think sales also has to do with genre.  My paranormal does best at B&N.  My romance does best at Amazon. 

I do post on the B&N Community, but I am intimidated and afraid to do too much and get people angry, although I have many posts that do not mention my novels.

Amazon has many more sites to post on in their Kindle Community boards, with lots of reader participation and with specific places for fiction, paranormal, romance, horror and other genres.  They also have places to post about sales for your novels, where people with Kindles go to get bargains.  I haven't found anything like that for B&N books.

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(sale $0.99 cents for each novel - each novel is over 400 pages)

The Living Image - twins, clones, spies 

Midnight Reflections  - romantic suspense and murder

The Necromancer  - paranormal, witches, scary fun

[MichaelWallace…]

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed The Righteous, but thanks to your comment I see one thing that might be slowing down sales. The sequel to The Righteous, Mighty and Strong is available on B&N for the Nook, but it's not immediately obvious. I'm not sure why clicking on my name in the store doesn't bring up all of my books. No wonder I have all of one sale so far of The Devil's Deep on B&N, even though the book has 80 reviews on Amazon. I'll have to look into what's going on with that.

[geatdanemomDT]

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MichaelWallace23 wrote:

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed The Righteous, but thanks to your comment I see one thing that might be slowing down sales. The sequel to The Righteous, Mighty and Strong is available on B&N for the Nook, but it's not immediately obvious. I'm not sure why clicking on my name in the store doesn't bring up all of my books. No wonder I have all of one sale so far of The Devil's Deep on B&N, even though the book has 80 reviews on Amazon. I'll have to look into what's going on with that.

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Your right they do not come up together clicking on your name. But I picked up the Mighty and Strong to go with the Righteous. Thanks

[chefclaire]

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MichaelWallace23 wrote:

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed The Righteous, but thanks to your comment I see one thing that might be slowing down sales. The sequel to The Righteous, Mighty and Strong is available on B&N for the Nook, but it's not immediately obvious. I'm not sure why clicking on my name in the store doesn't bring up all of my books. No wonder I have all of one sale so far of The Devil's Deep on B&N, even though the book has 80 reviews on Amazon. I'll have to look into what's going on with that.

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Thanks for the heads up! I also read The Righteous this past week and enjoyed it, but did not immediately see the sequel.  I was going to post and mention that I hoped to see more stories with the characters introduced in The Righteous. 

[toesinthesand79]

Michael, thank you so much for posting the links for the two other books.  I cannot wait to read the sequel and The Devil's Deep looks good too! 

I have to say that since getting my Nook I have been exposed to a whole different world of reading with self pub authors.  I find myself reading less and less mainstream authors these days.

[RHWright]

@pam-livingimage:

Given the recent furor caused by Patrick Skelton, I can understand your hesitation to self-promote on these boards. I agree, it would be nice if there was a separate, clearly marked board for authors promoting their NOOKbooks.

I, personally, don't mind reasonable efforts at promotion here on the NOOKbook Discussion board. Things I feel are OK:

1) A short signature with non-image links, such as your own, that is appended to any post in threads you are participating in

2) Creating a clearly titled thread when a new title is up, or there is some "hook" to presenting an older title again—whether it's relevance to current events or similarity to other current popular titles.

3) Creating a clearly titled thread when you are offering a time-sensitive promotional price.

Things I wish people would avoid:

1) Contributing to threads solely for the purpose of promotion. This is particularly galling when the comments are patently off topic.

2) Comments that are shorter than your promotional content.

3) Starting topical threads that you do not continue to contribute to. You may very well just want to hear what others have to say on a topic, but it gives the appearance that it was created solely to promote your work and can be viewed as deceptive or a little shady. To be blunt, it can unintentionally cheese people off.

4) Creating duplicate promotional threads all over the boards. I would restrict posting about your work to the NOOKbook Discussion group under the the NOOKApps and NOOKbooks Board. Don't duplicate it under General Discussion, NOOKColor, etc. Cross-posting in other appropriate areas (e.g. the genre boards) would be OK. You just don't need to hit us over the head with the same message again and again.

just my 2 cents & good luck with your endeavors.

[Desert_Brat]

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RHWright wrote:

1) Contributing to threads solely for the purpose of promotion. This is particularly galling when the comments are patently off topic...

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Well said, RHWright.

Recently there was a new author with two books, who uses large-size images for both books, and posted 1-line replies to 14 very old threads so these two huge images displayed with each and every post -- plus, new threads across most of the forums, including tech support.

In-your-face advertising is not marketing. It makes people dig in their heels and purposely not buy something because it is so annoying.

I've written to admins in the past to make a suggestion. I thought that since the First Look community is now defunct, perhaps they could turn it into a Read My Book community so there would be a single specific place for people to look for book releases. I would make these locked threads so they would be announcements only, that way it doesn't take away from discussion in the other venues. It could even be broken down further into hardcover, paperback, nookbook.

To add to the community, there could also be boards for all phases of writing and publishing. Other forums could be relocated to the community, like PubIt and Behind the Wheel, both of which seem out of place in their current locations.

This gives a single place for "shopping." Then, if the author chose to do so, they could post in other venues like NOOKbook Discussion. By that, I mean one post for one book where others could discuss that book.

I don't mind an author's thread getting bumped up a lot. I don't read each and every thread in a forum. So for me, it says there's lots of activity in that thread and I might even take a look to see what all the to-do is about.

There is an art to good advertising and marketing. People are more likely to buy something that isn't thrown in their face or forced on them like a used-car salesman. Folks like to feel like they are the ones who are making the choice on their own terms and considerations.

This is just my own opinion, but it is based on a career in journalism, media and publishing that all entail product advertising and how people react to said advertising. I did get a very nice thank-you note back from admin to say they would definitely add this to their long list of things awaiting the vetting process.

[pam-livingimage]

RH Wright - Thanks for your thoughtful answer to my post.  I certainly don't want to 'cheese people off.'  LOL

Your suggestion about a separate board for authors to post sales and promote their novels and books would be a welcome addition to the B&N Community, I believe.  Amazon has lots of these boards, as I stated before.

Around Christmas time I started a thread here on B&N Community for sales that authors were having at that special time.  I posted about the thread at the NookBoard, with a link to the thread, so other authors could come and post about their own Christmas sales.  Readers were positive about the thread because they could find many bargain books.

Maybe a moderator will look at this thread and decide it would be a good idea to have a separate board for authors and readers.  Maybe even separate the board into specific genres so readers could find their favorites, such as romance, paranormal, thriller, suspense, etc.

Thanks again, RH Wright

Pam

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(sale $0.99 cents for each novel - each novel is over 400 pages)

The Living Image - twins, clones, spies 

Midnight Reflections  - romantic suspense and murder

The Necromancer  - paranormal, witches, scary fun

[John_Gaffield]

I agree that having a specific place for authors to post information about their books would be nice. It might help new authors avoid the problem of pushing their books too much, since it could have guidelines that establish what and how often books can be posted. There are several ways to divide the postings, as others have mentioned before. Most of us are sensitive to the balance between not posting at all or posting way too much and loosing potential customers. It will be better for both authors and readers to have a specific place to interact.

John T. Gaffield

Slow Down (free)

The Ghost of Birch River Cabin  (free)

Heir to Winston Manor  

The Wahl House Curse  

[MichelleMuto]

I'm new to all this, but in the three weeks my book has been out, I'm in the opposite situation - I sell better here than on Amazon. 

No. Idea. Why. 

[MichaelWallace…]

I wonder if it's almost like the butterfly wings in the Amazon. Of course you have to write a good book, but whether or not you'll be discovered may be random.

My book, The Righteous, which is the first in a series of suspense/thrillers that take place in a polygamist enclave, is selling better than all of my other books put together, having climbed as high as 150 in the overall Kindle store, and accounting for the bulk of my sales on B&N, as well. I think I can trace the success to one butterfly.

I have received thirty-nine reviews of the book on Amazon, some of them short, some long and clearly representing some articulate, thoughtful time on the part of the reviewer. But one short review caught the eye of someone who has a popular e-books blog:

This mystery was very realistic to the point that I had dreams that I was in Blister Creek, Utah. This is a first for me. I'd love to read a sequel.

I'm not sure why that was the review the blogger liked, but it made him pick up the book, quote the review, and put it on his recommended list. .Sales took off and then got in some virtuous cycle of recommendations and "others bought" lists and have been strong ever since.