Sales estimation: reading the signals

Advanced · 2 min read

Amazon does not publish how many copies a book sells, so every sales and earnings number in RankForged is an estimate built from public Amazon pages. This guide shows how to read the estimates and check them against signals you can see for yourself.

Daily ASIN searches: not included in the Free plan, Starter 20, Pro 20, Autopilot 100. New accounts get Pro limits for 7 days.

1. 1.Know what the numbers are

   Estimates appear as Est. Earnings/Mo in Keyword Search, and as DY (daily sales) and MO (monthly sales) in Competitor Analysis. They are a guide for comparing books and keywords with each other. They are not Amazon's figures and not a promise of what your book will earn.

2. 2.Compare the estimate with the rank

   In a competitor table, a better rank (a lower ABSR) should go with higher estimated sales. In the example below, the book ranked 581 is estimated at 100 sales a day, while the book ranked 4,713 is estimated at 42. If a row does not follow that pattern, look closer before you trust it.

   

3. 3.Look up a book with ASIN Search

   Open ASIN Search, click New Search, enter the book's 10-character ASIN and click Fetch ASIN. RankForged fetches the product details: price, rating, number of reviews, publisher, publication date, language and pages, plus the book's categories and Best Seller Rankings. It supports Kindle, paperback, hardcover and audiobook ASINs only.

   

4. 4.Check the signals together

   Does the price match similar books? Does the number of reviews and the rating make sense for the rank? Is the book old or new (publication date)? A book with a strong rank, a modest number of reviews and a recent publication date can be a better sign for your niche than an old bestseller.

5. 5.Decide with context

   Do not decide on one number. Compare several books in the niche, look at the categories they sit in, and treat the estimates as a range. If your plan only works at the top of the range, choose another keyword or niche.

All sales, earnings and demand numbers in RankForged are estimates based on public Amazon data, not exact figures.