Monday, March 4, 2019

The Amazon Age

Brian Niemeier uses one of my tweets as a springboard into a fascinating look behind the scenes of his latest novel launch for Combat Frame XSeed:
Amazon, on the other hand, did not deliver the 30 day algorithm bump that many successful indie authors swear by. According to my numbers, the A9 algorithm pushed CFXS for only one day. 
That was despite a clear demand for the book, as IGG showed. The newsletter swaps did indeed train the algorithm correctly, filling my also-boughts with genre-appropriate titles. I even ran three AMS ads. But despite CFXS getting rave reviews, Amazon's algorithm didn't grab the book and run with it. 
We can only speculate as to why, but I suspect that Amazon has made changes to nerf the algo gaming strategy. They're constantly tweaking their algorithm, and they've previously blunted formerly successful strategies like free giveaways. Nick Cole has even reported diminished results from newsletter trades.
Brian's got a keen mind and is already thinking about the next development in the bookselling business, beyond the Amazon Age. But what is the Amazon Age? For that, let's look at the original tweets:

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