4 Simple Tracking Methods to Improve Your Book Marketing

I recently finished the book Atomic Habits by James Clear.  In the final chapters, the author talks about reflecting and reviewing processes he and others participate in monthly, quarterly, and yearly.  Authors must do the same kind of reflecting and reviewing their book marketing.  The review and reflection will provide you with the process of defining which of the hundreds of marketing activities you will choose to implement.  Knowing which marketing activities to implement and which activities work best is key to strong and consistent book sales.  

Here are 4 simple tracking methods you can use as you review and reflect and track your marketing activities. 

Amazon Tracking Link

Sign up to be an Amazon Associate. One of the reasons Amazon has grown at such a rapid rate is that they offer everyone the opportunity to make money by becoming an affiliate. By being an Amazon affiliate, you can share a tracking link on all your social media posts and emails, and if anyone buys your book from clicking your link, you get paid a percentage of each purchased product.  

For book marketing on Amazon, I recommend creating a separate tracking link for each of your book marketing activities.  For example, a tracking link for email marketing, one for each social media marketing campaign, one for your website, and one to send as a text message to all your family and friends.  By creating separate links, you can track where you’re getting the most traffic and book sales.

It’s easy, simple, and Amazon’s Associates updates each link every 24 hours to check book sales.    

Weekly Book Sales

At the end of each week, month, and year, look at your book sales trends and compare them against your chosen book marketing activities.  If you’re on Amazon Author Central, you can access NPD data that shows your book sales.  If not, check with your publisher each month for a report of the latest book sales.  This data can be delayed but will be accurate as to which retail channel sold your book. 

Email Opt-ins

Track your email opt-ins.  This method is more related to building an audience but correlates with book sales.  I say it often, and I’ll keep saying it, building your audience increases your book sales.  Tracking your email list opt-in rate compared to your book sales indicates how closely those two items are related.  For example, if your email list grows at a rate of 100 opt-ins per month and you track that over the past year for every 1000 opt-ins, there are 50 book sales, you can estimate the number of book sales from your email list.  

Self-Author Check

This tip is a little more subjective, but you should do a yearly review of your author goals.  This can include book writing goals, daily writing goals, books sold, books produced, etc. This doesn’t need to take a long time, but it’s always better to have a clearly defined goal you’re working towards.  It’s like driving with a GPS--you get there faster when you know where you’re going.   

Remember, the benefits of tracking your book sales gives you more control and confidence in your marketing strategies.  It’s not enough to just hope your book is selling.  Find out what is working and adjust your plan accordingly.