Amazon.com rankings - does anyone understand the system?

I have never understood the sales rankings that Amazon.com posts for books. I know that the lower the number the higher the ranking. I use to think it was the other way around, the higher the number the better the ranking but that is not the case. I don't know what it means when there is no ranking at all posted by a book. Does this mean that the book hasn't even sold 1 copy on Amazon?

I have also never understood how Amazon comes up with their list of best-selling books under genres and even sub-genres (i.e. romance, then with the sub-genre of sensual romance which is the category that I write).

Just today I did a search under Amazon Kindle books (I have 4 of my titles released in the Kindle version) for sensual romance. My novel Desert Heat is listed as Number 15 and my novel Cabin Fever is listed as Number 21 out of 119 books on the BEST SELLING sensual romance books list.

This is copied and pasted from the Amazon site:

Kindle Store › Kindle Books › "sensual romance"
Showing 13 - 24 of 119 Results Sort by Bestselling

15. Desert Heat (Affairs of the Heart) by Kristie Leigh Maguire (Kindle Edition - Jan 15, 2009) - Kindle Book
Buy: $3.19
Auto-delivered wirelessly
(10)
Other Editions: Paperback

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21. Cabin Fever (Affairs of the Heart) by Kristie Leigh Maguire (Kindle Edition - Jan 15, 2009) - Kindle Book
Buy: $3.19
Auto-delivered wirelessly

However when I go to the Amazon Kindle pages for Desert Heat and Cabin Fever, there are no sales rankings listed. Does this mean that NO copies of those books have been sold? If that is the case how are they Number 15 and Number 21 on the Best-Selling Sensual Romance Books at the Amazon Kindle Store?

When I did the same search but had it sorted by RELEVANCE instead of BEST SELLING, my Cabin Fever book came up as Number 1 and my Desert Heat book came up as Number 6.

This is copied and pasted from Amazon:

Kindle Store › Kindle Books › "sensual romance"
Showing 1 - 12 of 119 Results Sort by Relevance

1. Cabin Fever (Affairs of the Heart) by Kristie Leigh Maguire (Kindle Edition - Jan 15, 2009) - Kindle Book
Buy: $3.19
Auto-delivered wirelessly

-----------

6. Desert Heat (Affairs of the Heart) by Kristie Leigh Maguire (Kindle Edition - Jan 15, 2009) - Kindle Book
Buy: $3.19
Auto-delivered wirelessly
(10)
Other Editions: Paperback

As I said, it is all a mystery to me. I have never found anyone who understands the system. I have an author friend who knows someone who works for Amazon. According to the friend of my friend, even Amazon doesn't understand how their system works. Do YOU?

Why book tours are passé

Author readings and signing sessions, once the staple of publishing publicity, are being usurped by virtual encounters and promotional videos.

By Teresa Méndez Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

The author tour, with its accompanying readings and signings, has come to be the quintessential tool for promoting books. It is a chance for writers to charm their readers and for readers to glimpse the person behind the words. At its best, the meeting can be electric. (At worst, nobody shows up.)

But in the past five years or so, observers say the traditional author tour has been in decline: Fewer writers are being sent out, and those who do tour make fewer stops. Among the many reasons for this shift are marketing tools that have made it possible to orchestrate a virtual encounter, without the hassle or expense of travel. Publishers and authors are now touting books through podcasts, film tours, blog tours, book videos, and book trailers. In fact, it's unusual for a book not to have some sort of Web presence. (Blue van Meer, the fictional main character in the 2006 novel "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" by Marisha Pessl, even has her own MySpace page.)

Publicity departments used to be places where wacky ideas originated but languished, says Carol Schneider, executive director of publicity for Random House. Now, with the Internet, she says, "they are really able to carry [those ideas] out."

Each is a small experiment, an incremental move, as the publishing industry has begun to embrace the Internet and other new media. It's hard not to wonder, though, whether their cumulative effect will one day render the face-to-face bookstore meeting between writer and reader obsolete.

READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE

BOOK COVERS AND MORE can create a customized video book trailer for your book for only $50.

Emails from the Edge and KINDLE

My book, Emails from the Edge: The Life of an Expatriate Wife, is having a great ride down the Amazon.com River. Since its rebirth as a KINDLE edition, Emails from the Edge has been experiencing a new life and has found many more readers. This is very heart-warming to me because this is my memoirs book which went out of publication as a paperback a few years ago. This just goes to show that you CAN teach an old book new tricks! You go, Emails from the Edge!







Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 282 KB
Publisher: Blue Leaf Publications/Indigo Blue eBooks (February 1, 2009)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
9 Reviews
5 star: (5)
4 star: (1)
3 star: (1)
2 star: (0)
1 star: (2)› See all 9 customer reviews...
3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #27,888 in Kindle Store

Emails from the Edge (The Life of an Expatriate Wife)
When friendship spans the oceans… -It seemed a fair exchange to share the exotic experiences in the Land of the Rising Sun in exchange for hearing of life in the real world. A rare glimpse into the life of an American woman in a foreign and alien land – read her journal. Based on a true story.

"…a must read for women of all ages. It helps you to remember the true value of friendship and come to the realization that distance is nothing but space between friends…"
-- Tami Parrington, Women on Writing

"This is the one book that everyone needs to read if you or your spouse has a job which includes traveling in the good ole U.S.A. or abroad! A 5-star performance…!"
-- Epstein LaRue, author of "Crazy Thoughts Of Passion" and "Love At First Type"

"The relationship…was nothing short of a miracle in this clever, honest, and original book. …a truly a delightful read…that will leave you laughing and crying. Maguire's book is definitely a wake-up call… Military personnel and travel agents should recommend this book…"
-- Bobby Ruble, Author"

A true story, the friendship between these two women shines… The writing is real and down to earth, as only emails to good friends can be. An excellent read." -- Annette Gisby, author of “Silent Screams”"You will laugh and cry…as you read this story of deep friendship and understanding. I highly recommend (it)…"
-- Joan Moore Lewis, Southern Fiction Author, Georgia USA

"You’ll learn a lot about the Far East…and also learn what life is like for U.S. workers abroad…but what you will remember about this book, and would not find in any more conventional ‘travel story,’ is the friendship that prompted its e-mails. Highly recommended!" -- Nina M. Osier, author of "Love, Jimmy: A Maine Veteran's Longest Battle"

36MMM breasts scoop world record

Totally off topic of romance ... well maybe not! You gotta see this to believe it! How dumb can anyone be to do this to themselves????

Who says porn stars lack amb­ition? Maxi Mounds has made a huge name for herself – by having the largest breast implants in the world.

Her 36MMM bust – each weighing 9kg (20lbs) – finally made it into the record books years after she learned there was a category for natural breasts.

'I contacted Guinness World Records and asked if they had a category for implants, but they said no, so I let it go,' she said.

'Then they asked me if I was interested as they were creating a category. Eventually they told me I won.'

READ COMPLETE ARTICLE.

I was born without the writer gene!

When I was invited to guest blog at YouGottaRead I was told that I could blog about anything. Well anything covers a lot of territory. Trying to narrow anything down to a manageable topic was harder that I thought it would be.

I tried to think of something new that I could write about myself as an author. I’ve been in the business since the mid-90s. I have, at one time or another, pretty much told all anyone could possibly want to know about the author Kristie Leigh Maguire.

I started thinking about interviews of other authors that I had read and the interviews that I myself had done over the years. I thought about the differences between myself and some of those other authors. One major difference between myself and some of those other authors suddenly hit me right between the eyes.


Read the complete article at YouGottaRead.

Romance novels thrive in tough economic times ...

According to the Associated Press (and this is a direct quote from AP), "Love may not conquer all in real life, but its power in relatively inexpensive books is quite a comfort in this economy. Publishers are seeing strong sales in the romance genre as other categories decline and consumers cut back on spending."

This is excellent news for both authors and readers of the romance genre! We all need an escape from the gloom and doom of real life and what better way to do this than reading a good love story!

Laurie Parkin (Vice President and Publisher for Kensington Publishing Corp.) agrees with this. In the article she said, "....when business is bad or business is down, people want to escape a little bit. I think romance offers that in a wonderful, wonderful way."

According to the article , "For the week of May 10, romance book sales were up nearly 2.4 % compared to the same week last year, according to Neilson BookScan, which covers 75% of retail sales. "

What better time to be a romance author! I am so glad I am one! If you like to read romance, then check out MY titles. If you want to save even more money ... and help save the planet by going GREEN ... then purchase them in either ebook (at Fictionwise) or Kindle format (at Amazon.com). You can download FREE SAMPLERS of my books so you can try before you buy.

My current WIP is flowing for me finally ...

It is such a relief when a writer finally gets it together and the words start flowing. It can be a long hard and frustrating process when the words just won't come out right and the story won't 'go.'

When the right angle finally hits you though the words flow like water down a hill. I am doing the happy dance that I finally figured out the right angle for my current work-in-progress.

AND I finally also got the cover created that I want for the book. Here it is. Isn't it lovely?

This one I am writing under the name of Margie K. Tovrea instead of Kristie Leigh Maguire since it is not the right genre to be published under the Kristie name.

Oh, forgot to say the title. It's:

Sheila Anne MacKenzie: The Daughter of a Hell-Fire-and-Brimstone Preacher Man.