Amazon Book Watching

Katha Pollit has a piece that cuts a little bit close to home in today's New York Times. She tells the story of how a bad review coupled with a judiciously spent $250 saw her Amazom sales numbers rise dramatically. I never bought my own book, but I have had days when my numbers rose significantly after what I am sure were just a couple of purchases. Of course Pollit saw her numbers rise into the rarefied air of the top 10,000. Bleeding Red has never risen above 20,000, though it got close. I have not looked in a couple of months, but last I checked, my sales rankings were at an all-time low in the 800,000's. Such is life in the world of small potatoes.