Yes, I am that sort of person

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It’s the fourth day that Child of Fire has been on sale. Yes, I am still visiting Amazon.com twenty times a day. Yes, I’m still checking for new reviews. Yes, I’m still glancing at the “sales rank.”

No, you don’t need to tell me that Amazon.com’s sales rank numbers are pretty much meaningless. Really, don’t. I already know that. But it’s one of only two ways I have of judging public interest in my book (all copies at my library are checked out or on hold) so I keep looking at it.

Before the release, the sales rank was in the low six-figures. On release day and after, it hung around 3K. At this point, it’s ping-ponging between 10K and 15K. I don’t care that it isn’t a good judge of how the book is selling. It’s the only input I can look at.

Am I the sort of person who makes an excuse to wander into Borders to see if there are fewer books on the shelf? (Apparently.) Am I the sort of person to linger by the shelf because a guy is standing right next to my book with a paperback in hand? (Yes.) Did I see a complete stranger carry my book to the register? (No. Congrats on the sale, Seanan McGuire!) Am I the sort of person who buys other books to hide the fact that I’m basically skulking around the store? (Oh, hell yes. And Mastercard is damn grateful). Were there, in fact, fewer books on the shelf? (Yes!)

Anyway, it’s weird. As Betsy, my editor, mentioned in the chat I linked to earlier in the week, Del Rey acquired my book with a pre-empt–before financial deregulation sent the economy into a nosedive. There are expectations for this book, and it has come out at a time of nearly 10% unemployment.

Which… okay. Perspective: millions of out-of-work people around the world is a bigger problem than the possiblilty that my book will underperform, but I can’t help but link them.

I keep wanting input but it’s slowly fading. I’m going to have to shrug it off soon and put it behind me. Soon. Don’t I know that it’s pretty much out of my hands now? (Yeah, in fact, I do.)

In other news, I hope to finish the rough draft of book three tomorrow morning before the signing. We’ll see.

2 thoughts on “Yes, I am that sort of person

  1. Thanks for the congratulations! I did see a complete stranger buy your book, if that helps at all. ;) (Also, I sat down with a mathematician, a statistician, and a programmer to deduce the Amazon algorithm, because I am an insane math geek, but that’s neither here nor there.)

    Seanan

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