# Lowest ranking book on Amazon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 12, 2008, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-ranking-book-on-amazon/449089 "2008-05-12T21:53:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-ranking-book-on-amazon/449089/21 "2008-05-13T19:37:28Z")
Wow! My sister’s self-published book is in the 1.3 million ranking neighborhood. Compared th these guys, she’s Stephen King! ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-ranking-book-on-amazon/449089/22 "2008-05-13T19:46:44Z")
[QUOTE=Omphaloskeptic] [This](http://www.amazon.com/SEARCHING-SUPERWORLD-Celebrations-University-Scientific/dp/9812700188/) (#6,674,068) is the best I’ve found. [/QUOTE] It’s #6,668,778 now. Think someone bought one of the last remaining copies? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-ranking-book-on-amazon/449089/23 "2008-05-13T19:55:29Z")
The people who are flipping the list and seeing alphabetical order; I think you’re seeling all of the unranked books in reverse alphabetical order first. Scroll through a ten million or so and you should reach the ranked ones. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-ranking-book-on-amazon/449089/24 "2008-05-13T19:57:28Z")
Just to put this all in perspective, my first book was a self-published volume written about a very specialized piece of the Internet back in 1996. Since Amazon buys them directly from me, I know that the last copy they sold was in 2001. The vast majority of my sales on that book were at conferences and through trade associations. I doubt Amazon accounted for more than a couple of dozen out of the 1,400 copies I sold. It is currently ranked at #4,540,851 in books. Does anyone know how their ranking system works? If I put out a new book today and they sold one copy, would it be above or below that old one? ETA: My top-selling book is currently ranked #166,061, although my royalty statements from the publisher indicate we’ve sold over 40,000 copies. I guess my stuff just doesn’t do well on Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-ranking-book-on-amazon/449089/25 "2008-05-13T20:01:17Z")
I stand in awe of those of you that can find books in the high 6,000,000s. I spent about a hour last night dinking around Amazon, found lots of 3, 4, and 5 million ranks, and a couple of low 6,000,000s. However, I dare you to top this. I actually know this author. He has two books on Amazon that have average ratings of 5 stars, and a sales ranking of [5,664,391](http://www.amazon.com/Champion-Reason-Jim-Riva/dp/1891262009/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210708402&sr=1-5) and [2,883,585](http://www.amazon.com/Geographer-Jim-Riva/dp/1891262017/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210708402&sr=1-6)\*. I defy you to find an author that has two books with a five star rating and a lower rank. \*This is a wonderful book, very very funny BTW. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-ranking-book-on-amazon/449089/26 "2008-05-13T20:07:05Z")
[QUOTE=InvisibleWombat] Does anyone know how their ranking system works? If I put out a new book today and they sold one copy, would it be above or below that old one? [/QUOTE] Some info[here.](http://www.rampant-books.com/mgt_amazon_sales_rank.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-ranking-book-on-amazon/449089/27 "2008-05-13T21:40:43Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] Some info[here.](http://www.rampant-books.com/mgt_amazon_sales_rank.htm) [/QUOTE] Thanks, **Bairn**. I just discovered something else interesting: When you do a search and sort the results by “bestselling,” it does _not_ sort by sales rank. I have a book whose sales rank is in the 500Ks, and it appears in the list above one in the 200Ks and one in the 300Ks. The correlation between “bestselling” and “sales rank” seems rather tenuous. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-ranking-book-on-amazon/449089/28 "2008-05-13T21:54:41Z")
[QUOTE=InvisibleWombat] Just to put this all in perspective, my first book was a self-published volume written about a very specialized piece of the Internet back in 1996. Since Amazon buys them directly from me, I know that the last copy they sold was in 2001. The vast majority of my sales on that book were at conferences and through trade associations. I doubt Amazon accounted for more than a couple of dozen out of the 1,400 copies I sold. It is currently ranked at #4,540,851 in books. Does anyone know how their ranking system works? If I put out a new book today and they sold one copy, would it be above or below that old one? ETA: My top-selling book is currently ranked #166,061, although my royalty statements from the publisher indicate we’ve sold over 40,000 copies. I guess my stuff just doesn’t do well on Amazon. [/QUOTE] I’m astonished to learn this because my own, special interest, 32 page how to manual, which had a single press run in 1980 and is completely obsolete now, is ranked #4,364,147. It is so out of print, the only existing copy I’m aware of is at a small Bible college in Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-ranking-book-on-amazon/449089/29 "2008-05-13T22:18:43Z")
With this thread I’m kind of curious: does anyone here use the Amazon ranking for anything? It’s completely meaningless to me but then I’m usually tightly focused on what I want when I go to Amazon. If someone is ranked highly does that make you interested in it? Do relative rankings matter to you when you’re deciding between two books? I don’t even trust the Amazon reviews; it’s the IMDB of book reviews. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-ranking-book-on-amazon/449089/30 "2008-05-13T22:43:58Z")
[QUOTE=kunilou] I’m astonished to learn this because my own, special interest, 32 page how to manual, which had a single press run in 1980 and is completely obsolete now, is ranked #4,364,147. It is so out of print, the only existing copy I’m aware of is at a small Bible college in Ohio. [/QUOTE] It appears from a closer reading of the article **Wee Bairn** linked (and the article to which it links) that used sales may count in the rankings. In that case, I have no way of knowing how many copies of my book (or yours) Amazon sold, or how recently it sold them. [QUOTE=Just Some Guy] With this thread I’m kind of curious: does anyone here use the Amazon ranking for anything? [/QUOTE] Since position in the rankings is easy to manipulate, certain authors and publishers will artificially improve the rank, and then claim “Amazon Top 1,000 Seller” in large letters on their advertising and promotion (and on POD books, on the cover). And precisely for this reason, such statements mean little or nothing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lowest-ranking-book-on-amazon/449089.md?page=1)