As experienced self-published authors know, one of the dullest administrative tasks, often neglected, is regular tracking and downloading of sales reports from the multiple retailers and distributors. Amazon KDP’s reporting interface isn’t exactly user friendly (it only actively shows 90 days’ worth of ebook sales), and any author with multiple titles in multiple formats has probably sought an easier method of analyzing sales trends.
A few third-party options do offer help, although none of them feature a particularly great aesthetic, and you may be left scratching your head at some aspects of their user interface. But for authors who maintain multiple retail or distributor accounts, these services offer needed number crunching and analysis. Here’s a quick overview of the existing players.
- Book Report. This is an easy-to-use browser bookmarklet, but limited in its utility. It allows you an in-depth look at your Amazon ebook sales—but that’s it. Nothing else. However, if you’re only selling through Amazon, it may be just the tool you’re looking for. The design and user interface are polished and probably the best-looking of those available. After your free trial is up, you have to pay $10 per month if you’re earning more than $1,000 per month.
- TrackerBox. This software (which you must download) tracks sales across all platforms for a one-time fee of $89.99 after a free trial, but is only available to PC users. The software is regularly updated, and the developer can be found addressing questions and requests at kboards.com.
- BookTrakr. If you’re a Mac user, this is the go-to web-based sales tracking tool. After the free trial ends, you’ll pay 99 cents per month for tracking sales of up to nine SKUs, or $1.99 per month for tracking sales, reviews, and rankings of up to nine SKUs. (You can track more than nine SKUs at higher pricing tiers.) Some authors have expressed squeamishness at submitting their account credentials to BookTrakr, but their FAQ section explains that the information is encrypted.
A new sales tracking service, BookCore, debuted last month and is still in beta. It’s by a team of Czech developers and is similar to BookTrakr: it’s a web-based service that asks for your retailer/distributor account credentials, then presents your book sales data and analysis through an all-in-one dashboard. Right now, it’s free to set up an account. When we asked the CEO, Petr Hrachovec, about pricing plans, he told us, “A part of BookCore will stay free, mainly the dashboard, where you can see revenues and a brief detail of your book’s performance.” The paid features, still to be developed, will include market analysis, a genre/rank explorer, a KDP Select planner, and other deeper analytics.
Currently, BookCore collects data from Amazon, Smashwords, Apple, and Google. They are not planning to add other retailers immediately, with the possible exception of CreateSpace.
Bottom line: Given how much Amazon focuses on being author friendly (and emphasizes their data-driven decisions), it’s disappointing that their own sales reporting tools for authors remain so deficient that they require buttressing. (Thankfully, there are signs of combined print and ebook sales reporting in the future.) That said, if an author is going wide, then some third-party tool is almost mandatory to effectively manage sales reporting. We hope that TrackerBox will eventually release a Mac version, and if BookTrakr or BookCore can meaningfully improve their design and UX, they will bring welcome professionalism and efficiency to indie author businesses.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
