Tracking book sales numbers from events and signings
What to know and how to track it
Despite the fact that math and I don’t get along, I am obsessed with tracking my book sales numbers. And not just what I earned in royalties but all the numbers: what I sell at book signings versus sales that come from store orders or special promotions, how many of each book I sell, what sells more—ebook or paperback—for each title, and anything else that I need to know.
And to track these numbers, I turn to my trusty Excel program. I have event sales numbers dating back to 2014 when my second book came out, which is also a great resource for seeing how well I did at a particular venue.
In case you have the urge to track your numbers, or if you’re wondering just what you should be tracking, here are the details on what I track and how I do it.
Book Event Spreadsheet
My Book Event Spreadsheet has columns for the following information:
· Type of Event: Was this in-person or virtual?
· Category: Was this a workshop, book signing or other type of event?
· Bookstore/Venue: Where did it take place (the name of the store or facility)?
· URL: What is the URL for the location?
· Event Date: When did the event take place?
· Event Title: What was the title of the event? (If it’s a signing, I leave it blank but if it’s a workshop or special store event, I include that.)
· Fee: I generally get paid for workshops, so I note the amount here.
· Event Time: What are the beginning and ending times for the event?
· Travel Miles: What is the round-trip mileage (useful for tax purposes)?
· Stock status: Do I provide the books or is the venue ordering them in? Or is it a mix of both? If both, I track which books I provided and which the store ordered in.
· Notes: My comments on the event. Was it well attended and promoted? Was my table in a good place? How was the staff? What could I have done differently or better? Did the store buy any books from me outright for resale? If I am owed money for sales or the event, when can I expect to receive it—that day, in 30 days by mail, other? What are the social media links for the event, and has the location set up a specific Facebook event link—good to know as a post on social media about the upcoming event.
· Contact Name/Number, Email, Address (including city, state and Zip code)
· On consignment: Did I leave any books on consignment and if so how many and which ones?
· Reseller Percentage: 40% is typical but some charge less
The rest of the columns list my books individually: how many I sold and what was paid to me, since if the sales were from the store stock, I wouldn’t receive any money.
And because I am particularly interested in tracking my novels, I added a column for each one of those titles labeled “My stock” so I can tell overall how many books were sold of that title as well as how many were sold from my own stock.
I generally donate a percentage of my sales to a nonprofit from in-person signings, so I have four columns to track that: the name of the organization, total number sold at each signing, the dollar amount I owe to that nonprofit and the check number and date that I make that payment.
I also have a breakdown by year and by book, so I can see how many books were sold at events each year and what I earned from them. This not only tells me what books are popular at events but also reinforces my feeling that it is worth my time to do in-person signings.
You might think that I’m done but not so fast! There are still more numbers to track.
Amazon Author Central
I keep a separate spreadsheet for my Amazon numbers, accessed through Amazon Author Central. This has become somewhat less reliable, since the Bookscan Weekly Sales Report doesn’t report sales for books with ISBNs that start with 979. (Don’t get me started on that!)
According to the Book Industry Study Group, because there is no 10-digit equivalent to a 979 ISBN, it isn’t being tracked by Bookscan and therefore reported to Author Central, even though that prefix started back in 2020.
And despite what some people believe, the 979 prefix does not mean the book was self-published. There is no correlation between the two, just like there is no correlation between POD (Print On Demand) and whether the book was self-published or traditionally published.
Royalty Statements
The most reliable sales figures should come from royalty statements, although how much you will be able to drill down depends on how detailed the report is from your publisher or whoever handles your distribution.
For example, my novels and writing books are handled by BookBaby. BookBaby’s reports not only give me the sales dates and dates when those numbers are reported to BookBaby, but also the partners (which also tells me if it was an ebook or paperback), quantity, amount earned per sales and total earned. If I want to see sales from any coupon codes, I can get that number as well.
Total overview
Now we’re down to the end. My final breakdown is limited to my Midlife Moxie novels since those are the numbers I am most interested in tracking.
While I do have an overall summary by book from my event sales, I wanted to track my sales specifically for my novels, comparing what I earned in royalties against what I earned from selling my own stock at in-person events. (All my stock sales run through the store, generally at a 40% commission taken by them.)
Why do I need to track my own stock sales? Because if a store orders in my book for an event, that will be reflected in my royalty payment, whereas sales of my stock won’t be. So by breaking them out, I not only know how many of each title was sold per event, but how many were from my stock and what I earned from those sales.
Generally speaking, sales from my stock are a wash unless the venue takes less than 40%. But it’s still worth it because I’m getting the book right into the hands of a reader, along with bookmarks for my other books. And I’m talking to them about the series, which has also earned me invites to book clubs, organizations and libraries.
What do these figures tell me?
· What venues have worked well for me
· What books are most popular
· What format—ebook or paperback—is more popular per title
Eventually, I will also track audio sales but I’m waiting until my Midlife Moxie novels are released in that format and will most likely just track the numbers for those titles.
You might think this is overkill, but having been self-employed for decades, I know the importance of understanding the source of your income as well as what it costs to generate that income. And book marketing costs money and time, whether you do in-person events or rely on social media, online ads or sales through your website.
My next plan will be to use specific coupon codes from my novels for podcasts and blog interviews, to see if either or both generate sales.
Stay tuned for more data!
What numbers do you track for your book sales and events?
NOTE: All images are from Canva
I only track the books I give away; arc, donations, gifts. Because they count as an expense write-off instead of an income.
Maybe you could raise retail price so you are making $ at events? Since you are participating in wholesale events, stock should cost <25% of retail.