To be honest, I don’t look as much as I used to because my books don’t move all that much. With over a million titles available, and hundreds (perhaps even thousands) of titles added every day, it’s hard to keep track.
However, when I recently saw ‘Voice of an Angel’ move from 1,650,893 to 365,277 this was a clear indication that the book captured a few people’s attention.
In the days that followed ‘Voice of an Angel’ lost a few hundred places, but later once again gained sales as the book moved to 278,212.
Curious as to royalties, I visited the CreateSpace website and imagine my surprise when my account reflected no sales. Not in books and not in the Kindle store.
How is such a thing possible? How can a book shoot up in the rankings from 1,650,893 to 365,277 without showing any sales?
Apparently I’m not the only one who doesn't trust CreateSpace.
Earlier this year, Anita (not her real name) published a fantasy novel. Her family and friends bought copies via Amazon and the book’s ranking was 766,222. Anita checked her royalties and saw that her balance was zero.
In the weeks that followed she kept a close eye on the book’s rankings and saw a steady drop.
Not trusting CreateSpace she cooked up a scheme. At work she spread the word that anyone who bought her book through Amazon would get half their money back (proof of purchase required).
Not everybody, but more people than she would have expected showed up at her desk, book in hand.
Once again she checked her CreateSpace account but even with a sure 30 copies sold since publication, there were zero royalties due to her.
Are Anita and I the only ones who don’t trust CreateSpace or are there others?