Interesting data for indie publishing. I'd guess that the data looks similar for Amazon (when adjusting for scale).
http://blog.smashwords.com/2013/05/new-smashwords-survey-helps-authors.html
Thomas K Carpenter
SFx2, SHMx1, HMx12 (Pro'd Out - Q4 2016)
EQMM - Feb 2015 /
A statistician he is not.
The average number of words in a sales rank band is not a particularly useful metric. He should have put books in bands by word count (ex, <20k, 20-40, 40-60, 60-100, etc.) Particularly for the top 100, we don't know if a few large titles are distorting the average, nor how many shorter works are pulling it down.
What I would like to know is what are the odds a 40k word title can break into the top 500. But the presentation method hides the information that is most useful.
I'm not saying his conclusion is invalid. The fact that the curve drops consistently left to right makes a compelling argument. Longer books sell better than shorter ones, yes, but are most those top 100 books 120K novels or are they made up of short, medium, and long works that happen to average 120K? That information is more useful.
Yeah, his stats are pretty badly interpreted/listed here. Without a point map, it is difficult to really draw any conclusions from that kind of graph.
Yeah, his stats are pretty badly interpreted/listed here. Without a point map, it is difficult to really draw any conclusions from that kind of graph.
Yeah. I would love to get my hands on that data and play with it to tease out the real gems, mostly because I like statistics not because I think it would tell me that much. In the end, quality books matter.
Thomas K Carpenter
SFx2, SHMx1, HMx12 (Pro'd Out - Q4 2016)
EQMM - Feb 2015 /
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Thomas K Carpenter
SFx2, SHMx1, HMx12 (Pro'd Out - Q4 2016)
EQMM - Feb 2015 /
