Comments on: Amazon Rank: The Poor Man’s BookScan http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2006/11/01/amazon-rank-the-poor-mans-bookscan/ Self-Experimentation, Scientific Method, the Shangri-La Diet, etc. Sat, 20 Mar 2010 12:49:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.7 by: Ben Hyde http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2006/11/01/amazon-rank-the-poor-mans-bookscan/#comment-355374 Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:04:26 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2006/11/01/amazon-rank-the-poor-mans-bookscan/#comment-355374 Sweet. To first order I see how this works. But. The total volume of sales must have tremendous seasonal variation. e.g. I'm flux'd that a rank of 100 in late November would sell the same number as the a rank of 100 in late January. I wonder if that might explain some portion of the variance? So I predict many of the points below the line are in quiet seasons and those above are in the holiday season. Coming at it from the other direction, I wonder if you can use your data to discover in what months diet books move. I bet people rarely give diet books as christmas presents :). Sweet.

To first order I see how this works. But. The total volume of sales must have tremendous seasonal variation. e.g. I’m flux’d that a rank of 100 in late November would sell the same number as the a rank of 100 in late January. I wonder if that might explain some portion of the variance?

So I predict many of the points below the line are in quiet seasons and those above are in the holiday season.

Coming at it from the other direction, I wonder if you can use your data to discover in what months diet books move. I bet people rarely give diet books as christmas presents :) .

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