# Book Sales: Who Tracks? How to Access?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-sales-who-tracks-how-to-access/257757>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 31, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-sales-who-tracks-how-to-access/257757 "2004-07-31T19:32:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-sales-who-tracks-how-to-access/257757/1 "2004-07-31T19:32:58Z")

</div>

Who actually records the sales of various novels - starting with the best sellers down to the average sellers in YA, Sci-Fi, or Occult, etc., etc., etc! Is there a way to access this data? Do any SDopers have experience doing this? If so, do I have the option to search by author as well as by title? Last, are sales tracked annually, or what? Perhaps after sales drop below a certain level in a year, then it is no longer tracked?

Any other ways/resources/free databases available to access such comprehensive demographics on book sales?

Thanks, Jinx

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-sales-who-tracks-how-to-access/257757/2 "2004-07-31T21:51:12Z")

</div>

[http://slate.msn.com/?id=3504](http://slate.msn.com/?id=3504)

According to this article, publishers don’t release sales numbers that would give you what you’re looking for.

Best seller lists abound, but apparently nobody tracks books like Billboard tracks music sales.

Too bad, if the article is true; those are interesting questions you’ve asked.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-sales-who-tracks-how-to-access/257757/3 "2004-08-01T02:25:34Z")

</div>

> [@AuntiePam](#):
>
> [http://slate.msn.com/?id=3504](http://slate.msn.com/?id=3504)
> 
> According to this article, publishers don’t release sales numbers that would give you what you’re looking for.
> 
> Best seller lists abound, but apparently nobody tracks books like Billboard tracks music sales.
> 
> Too bad, if the article is true; those are interesting questions you’ve asked.

You know, even the libraries will not release stats on books regarding which are checked out the most/least. They claim it is an invasion of privacy, but heck! I’m not looking to track who reads what…I just want to take a cross section of books and see how they fared! Why is it so secret? Must be another conspiracy!

- Jinx

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-sales-who-tracks-how-to-access/257757/4 "2004-08-01T03:23:47Z")

</div>

It is not an absolute answer to your question, but Amazon must be fairly representative of the book buying public. They have sales rankings based upon current sales volumes.

That may be the best you can get without access to inside data.

The ranking is in the “Product Details” section of the book detail.