Book sales figures & Tough Crowd

[DataPestle]

Anyone in publishing here, with access to Bookscan? I trust Popbitch usually, but am very, very surprised to see their sales figures of 390 for Tough Crowd. I’m wondering if someone’s sent them sales figures for an odd edition (large print, audio) rather than hardback numbers, but does anyone with actual access to Bookscan have info?

It’s possible sales are that bad, but as I say, I would be surprised.

(Bookscan is across all publishers and should include Amazon, supermarkets, independent booksellers, and the publisher’s own sales.)

Clincher.

Isn’t Katy a wag 😂

So the direct sales alone are nearly 10x the figure Popbitch quoted! Can't add a photo of the Tweet for some reason but the f you follow the Simon Edge tweet link above you can get to it.

Thanks everybody! This is really good news. I have my (signed) copy already and hope Popbitch puts out a correction next week.

The popbitch thing is being spread far and wide, just saw a thread about it on r/ireland (https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/17cbmlq/from_popbitch_graham_linehans_book_sells_390/)
It seems like there might be a case if they do wait a week to correct what they've published going on that reddit thread its having a real adverse effect on Glinners reputation. Presumably the real figures will be posted in the best seller list by the times

Presumably the real figures will be posted in the best seller list by the times

The Sunday Times bestesellers chart uses the Nielsen BookScan figures which shows 390 copies sold.

I don't understand how they can show that as it's clearly wrong. Where does that figure come from?

If it only sold 390 copies it won't be in the bestseller list. My order was 8000+ and I have my copy so as far as I am concerned the suggestion that the first print run has sold out is entirely plausible!
Honestly the dirty tricks played on Glinner are relentless

Yes, I too preordered from Amazon in mid Sept and now a shipping date is yet to be confirmed...

Very odd. It sounds like there are at least 390 people on this thread who have bought a copy!

My order was 8000+ and I have my copy so as far as I am concerned the suggestion that the first print run has sold out is entirely plausible!

Eye Books has ~100 books available to purchase on their website, the order number is meaningless.

If PopBitch are usually very reliable with facts & figures, and it’s a facet of their reputation, why on earth would they lie about Glinner’s book?

I mean, it’s so easy to find the photos Glinner took of the piles and piles of autographed books that were ordered by customers. 🤷‍♀️

Amazon says it's at sales rank 1339, which is pretty good going. The top spots at the moment seem to be taken by people like Britney Spears and Trinny Woodall. Anyway, it indicates that considerably more than 390 have been sold. For an entertainer's memoirs, that's impressive.

I'm sure anyone with access to Bookscan could copy the relevant details for us if they wanted to. We are nearly all anonymous here.

Hopefully the resolution will stay high enough for this to be legible.

Many thanks. What does TCM mean in this context?

@keylimepye do you know why Bookscan would show 390 but the publisher has sold 30k directly in addition to any sold anywhere else? I don't know how Bookscan figures are calculated.

Total Consumer Market

Nielsen Bookscan sales don’t cover 100% of sales of a title. There are some sale avenues which aren’t included in their figures, including ebook sales and direct publisher sales.

The 390 sold figure is compiled from major online and high street booksellers and also some independents. The figure will have been for sales up until last sunday (15/10/2023). The new sales figures for this week will be released next tuesday.

Ta.

So in summary, Tough Crowd has sold 390 actual books scanned in book shops and therefore the figure doesn't include ebooks and sales direct from the publisher.

More on Bookscan and its limitations here: https://electricliterature.com/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-book-sales-but-were-afraid-to-ask/#.jssavzqjs

"Nielsen BookScan counts cash register sales of books by tracking ISBNs. A clerk scans the barcode, and the sale is recorded. Pretty simple. So why can it be inaccurate? To begin with, BookScan only tracks print book sales."

So would direct sales from the publisher be included in the total or not?

@keylimepye Thank you, that explains some of it. So I take it it wouldn't include publisher figures then? I wonder if more people than usual made a conscious effort to order direct from the publisher?

I don't have access to Bookscan any more but I do have KDP Rocket which analyses Amazon data and that estimates that in ebook and print formats sales will be about 18k for the month. That's about 400 print and around 1000 ebooks. Knowing friends' sales figures, they're usually pretty accurate. Those are just UK figures.

I imagine a lot of people wanted a signed copy, that's why I ordered direct from the publisher.