Tuesday, December 9, 2008

December Amazon Comparison of CBA Publishers

WildFire Marketing has released the December 3rd Amazon rankings for the Top 15 CBA Publishers. This research let viewers see both the overall CBA industry rankings, plus each publisher's individual top 20 bestselling book list.

Why is this information helpful to you? This is one of the few ways that authors, agents, and publishers can simultaneously see how a publisher's best books stack up against their peers. For example, Neilsen BookScan doesn't let other publishers see the competition's sales numbers (only bestseller lists). But, WildFire's free research gives publishers a way to see which titles are selling well on Amazon at 14 other houses. This data is also helpful to see which authors, topics, and genres are dominating Amazon sales trends. For instance, this month included many new titles that focused on Christmas themes.

Items of Interest this Month:
1. Top-Selling Overall CBA Title:
"Multiple Blessings" from Zondervan took the top spot with an Amazon ranking of #10. This new release continues to capitalize on the popular TV show, "Jon & Kate plus 8."

2. Biggest Publisher Moves:

a. Charisma House debuts on the list at #14.
b. B&H dropped from #8 last month to #13 this month.

3. Zondervan e-Book Outperforms Print Version:
Since October, the e-book version of "Jesus Wants to Save Christians" by Rob Bell has consistently held a higher Amazon ranking than the print version. This marks an interesting point in the industry as book formats and buyer preferences continue to transform.


Note: Amazon rankings do not reflect accurate sales figures and only account for a small percentage of a book's total sales. However, they can help determine how specific publishers or book titles perform over time versue their peers.

Click here for an Excel spreadsheet of the December 3, 2008 rankings.

If you missed the November 2nd rankings, click here.

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