If we look at my print sales of AFTERMATH through Nielsen -- leading up to that 5/31, I sold 185 print copies, then the two weeks after, I sold 253, then 266.
-
-
Show this thread
-
Now, Nielsen is always low -- because it misses physical sales from some sources, plus it misses e-books and audio. But I think it's a clear sign the boycott worked. It just worked in the other direction.
Show this thread -
Sales on the other two SW books saw a similar jump, though a softer gain on that second week -- and my books in TOTAL, all novels in print, jumped by about 40% (and in second week, dropped a little, showing only a 30% gain from that first week).
Show this thread -
Of course their boycott also included a fresh new wave of hate reviews against AFTERMATH, like this gem here --pic.twitter.com/vib0eX1iRy
Show this thread -
Which is fascinating in part because it's inaccurate, particularly the second paragraph.
Show this thread -
"Nearly an entire chapter was dedicated to describing the beauty of a minor background character’s lesbian marriage, for example." I think that must refer to Temmin's aunts? They get maybe a sentence or two? Um, not a chapter? But hey, whatever.
Show this thread -
The trick is, of course, that negative reviews only juggle the Amazon algorithm -- Amazon, as I've noted, cares little for the tenor of the reviews, it just cares for action, activity, attention. So even negative reviews give the book more visibility.
Show this thread -
And that's largely true for the boycott over all -- their negative attention gives it attention, and gives me an excuse to talk about it more, and so it gooses sales. Their efforts tend to result in the opposite of what they claim to want to achieve. Irony is alive and well!
Show this thread -
It's like how banning books often ends up goosing sales for the banned books. The act of banning books is reprehensible, of course, but the best way to "ban" a book is into obscurity, not by ladling more and more attention upon it.
Show this thread -
Anyway, so, that boycott didn't hurt my books, just like how their flailing rage with the first book knocked the book onto the NYT bestseller list for four weeks, also rage-flailing the next two books onto the list -- EMPIRE'S END debuting higher than the first book.
Show this thread -
Alas for them. I expect them to come gurgling up out of the drain on this thread, too, with a new wave of blog posts and YouTube videos, and it won't work for them now, just as it hasn't over the last -- *checks calendar* -- three years.
Show this thread -
Oh, before I get back to work writing this new Miriam Black Wren-centered novella, I should note that the reason their boycott is silly is they're preaching to a pre-existing choir -- it's like asking people who don't travel to boycott American Airlines.
Show this thread -
At this point, they're not lost sales -- they're non-sales. They were never in the "potential" column, so their loss is about as keenly felt as a fingernail clipping trimmed from fingernails you were already planning to clip.
Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.