# The "When will Smashwords update?" thread



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Because, yanno, whining about it might actually make it happen.


----------



## The 13th Doctor (May 31, 2012)

Stranger things have happened  

I check Smashwords ever day to see if everything's been updated, and I usually check the ranking on Barnes and Noble to figure out if I've made a sale or two there.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

So do I. I know there have been sales, and on Sony as well, so what's up? Sales haven't been updated for a while.


----------



## The 13th Doctor (May 31, 2012)

Oh, I wish I knew. I think some of them update every three months, though I could be wrong. Just wish it was weekly.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

B&N usually update weekly--sort of. When Smashwords feels like it.

Sony about two-weekly. Apple and the others once a month. They are much more regular. Ironically, the B&N sales interest me most.

GRRRRRR

Must. Not. Be. Impatient.


----------



## The 13th Doctor (May 31, 2012)

Patty Jansen said:


> Must. Not. Be. Impatient.


That should be my motto.


----------



## Nicki Leigh (Aug 25, 2011)

How quickly does Smashwords publish to other venues? I'm still waiting to get premium on SW.


----------



## The 13th Doctor (May 31, 2012)

Hi Erin,

It really varies. I've had one book go through within a day, another I've had for almost two weeks.

How long have you been waiting?


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Premium takes about two to three weeks.

After that, your books should take about 2 months to filter to B&N and goodness-knows-when to Sony.

I am 100% convinced that none of these retailers are in a hurry to improve this state of affairs to discourage people un-enlisting to go with Select, re-listing again, un-enlisting again... ect etc.

(brought to you by the Conspiracy Theory of the Day)


----------



## The 13th Doctor (May 31, 2012)

(This should really go on the Writer's Rant thread but...)

I'm disheartened to find that Sony still has one of the first covers Cigs, Bolan and Strange Men With Guns had and I have no idea how to ask them/Smashwords/Santa if they could change it to the latest one. :/


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

OK, when Sony gets stuck (as they do frequently) here is what you do:

Untick the "distribute" box for Sony in the Smashwords distribution channel listing for that title.
Wait until it vanishes off Sony. Surprisingly, this only takes a few days.
Re-tick the box again. The title will re-appear a few days later with the new details.


----------



## The 13th Doctor (May 31, 2012)

Oh Patty, you're a star! Thank you!  

I'll do that right away, cheers.


----------



## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

Patty Jansen said:


> OK, when Sony gets stuck (as they do frequently) here is what you do:
> 
> Untick the "distribute" box for Sony in the Smashwords distribution channel listing for that title.
> Wait until it vanishes off Sony. Surprisingly, this only takes a few days.
> Re-tick the box again. The title will re-appear a few days later with the new details.


Ooh, so turning it off and on again works then? 
Do you know if the same's true for other retailers? I have some old covers and pricings on B&N I'd like to see updated sooner rather than later.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Especially when you get to that sooner, rather than later stage, it pays to remove your titles temporarily.

I did this when a book refused to go back to paid on Amazon because Sony kept it free.

I haven't had any problems with B&N but I presume the same thing will work with them, except the title takes a fair bit of time to re-appear. About two months ago, I accidentally deleted a title from B&N by ticking the "reader sets own price box" on Smashwords. I didn't mean to do this, but didn't notice until much later. After I discovered the mistake, the book took its usual 6 weeks or so to reappear on B&N, with the new price and new cover, so it does work.

To be employed in desperate cases.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

*shakes fist at Smashwords*

*glares at screen*

*hits refresh*


----------



## That one girl (Apr 12, 2011)

Does that trick for Sony work with Apple? I've been waiting for book three to hit Apple for nearly three weeks. Book two only took a couple of days.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

I have no idea, because I never go there. The site (and Macs in general) annoys me to no end. There's no rankings, no easy search capacity, and maybe you need a Mac to fully appreciate it. I don't know. 

I sell a copy or two there every month.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Monday morning.

*crickets*


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Getting really annoyed. B&N and Sony haven't updated for three weeks.


----------



## Simon Haynes (Mar 14, 2011)

I click there every few days, and rarely see any updates or changes. Hopefully they'll streamline things one day.


----------



## S.Weldon (Nov 23, 2012)

Patty Jansen said:


> After that, your books should take about 2 months to filter to B&N and goodness-knows-when to Sony.


Sony has always been much faster for me. It's the rest that are painfully slow... B&N *shakes fist*


----------



## That one girl (Apr 12, 2011)

I set the first book in my series free the day after Apple updated on November 3rd. I just looked up my books on iTunes today and noticed a bunch of good reviews/ratings. I've given away about a thousand under my real name and still don't have the required five ratings to show up on iTunes ratings. My pen name has that many and more. I'm so excited to see the total earned when iTunes updates. I think the books have taken off on iTunes, but I can't know until Smashwords updates.


----------



## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

Slightly OT, but Woo Hoo!

Dear Cherise,

Per your request, we're writing to notify you someone has purchased your book:

Title	Qty	List Price	Coupon	Price Paid	Gift	Discount	Proceeds
Dog Aliens 1 Raffle's Name	1	$2.99	None	$2.99 $0.00	$2.28

Total items: 1
Total proceeds: $2.28

Time: 2012-11-23 02:37:38 PT
Transaction id: 95331746Y54244949

Sincerely,

The Smashwords Team, http://www.smashwords.com


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

I am supremely annoyed.

No updates yet for either Sony or B & N since early this month. Normally they update once a week.


----------



## Windvein (Sep 26, 2012)

Smashwords has made it a no-brainer for me to go direct with PubIt for B&N when I publish my next book. I don't want to learn yet another set of formatting requirements, but I like getting my money in a timely fashion. With Smashwords lately, I don't even get to see my money in a timely fashion, never mind get it.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

This is not an option for non-US writers.

OMG I am so [expletive] annoyed.


----------



## Sapphire (Apr 24, 2012)

How long does it usually take to publish on B&N if you go direct?


----------



## Lefty (Apr 7, 2011)

Sapphire said:


> How long does it usually take to publish on B&N if you go direct?


Mine were up in a few hours, maybe it was overnight.


----------



## wolfrom (May 26, 2012)

If I ever actually start selling books or whatever, I'm actually thinking of setting up a US shell so I can use PubIt. I wonder if that's a ridiculous thing to do...


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

You need a US bank account for some places, like Amazon, and B & N. While some banks will allow you to open a bank account in the US remotely, there is something "wrong" with the routing numbers of these accounts, and Amazon at least will still not pay into them.


----------



## Windvein (Sep 26, 2012)

Patty,

I'm so sorry PubIt isn't an option for you. I hope Smashwords begins updating again soon. They keep saying they've hired new employees, but I guess it's all for answering author questions. Like answering the "Why isn't B&N sales updating?" queries. I have sent one or two of those in the past. It took so long for them to reply that B&N had updated by the time they answered. It's a good service they offer, but wish it ran a little more smoothly and quickly. They've claimed in the past that they are at the mercy of the vendors. So it could be that B&N isn't sending them the info, but can't believe a vendor as large as B&N would be so sluggish with them. Apple supposedly sends them info every week, but they can't work with the data or something. Can't understand that. Mark emailed me that himself. He said, "We're not yet reporting Apple's free downloads because they're not providing them in our monthly reports. They provide them in weekly reports, but we're not integrating those yet." I was asking why I couldn't see how many free downloads I'd had on iTunes. I'm flying completely blind on that. Fingers crossed with B&N updating again soon.


----------



## Emma Daniels (Jan 21, 2011)

I think I might add my whine to this list.

Update damn it!!! 

But I bet it won't happen till December.


----------



## wolfrom (May 26, 2012)

I just got my Sony update from Smashwords. No B&N, though.


----------



## MegHarris (Mar 4, 2010)

Oh, yay, I got five dollars from Sony *sighs*. I hope they update iTunes next; that's where most of my SW income comes from.


----------



## Jill James (May 8, 2011)

zero from Sony, but not surprised. I've sold 2 books there in a year.


----------



## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

How are you folks getting updates directly from Sony?  I only get the (infrequent) updates from Smashwords, which includes Sony.


----------



## Jill James (May 8, 2011)

Updates from SW. It shows Sony is updated to Nov. 10th I think.


----------



## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

I'll take my one sale from Sony and call it a win for tonight.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Hmmm, hopefully they'll add the rest soon.


----------



## That one girl (Apr 12, 2011)

I'm dying to find out my iTunes numbers. Must suppress my inner Veruca Salt.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

I'm waiting for B & N. No movement on that front yet. Apple will come within a week or so.


----------



## Danielle Kazemi (Apr 2, 2011)

Those cheapos from Sony - only downloading my free titles. lol That's fine though. That's how it starts. One part of my sixty seven point plan includes dominating Sony's ebook wing. Everything is going to plan...


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Sony has updated to 1 Dec.

Some 700 freeloads very sneakily showed up in my B&N stats. Not sure when that happened. Some movement on the B&N front, finally?


----------



## Jill James (May 8, 2011)

Got some from Kobo! yeah!!


----------



## That one girl (Apr 12, 2011)

Does a human need to be sacrificed to the Smashwords meatgrinder for this to happen?


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

T.S. Welti said:


> Does a human need to be sacrificed to the Smashwords meatgrinder for this to happen?


It's starting to very much look like this is going to be the case. Any volunteers?


----------



## Claudia King (Oct 27, 2012)

Patty Jansen said:


> It's starting to very much look like this is going to be the case. Any volunteers?


I'm incorrectly formatted. It wouldn't like me.


----------



## That one girl (Apr 12, 2011)

I just got paid from Apple for the sales I made on Darklandia in October (before I enrolled in Select), so maybe they'll be reporting to Smashwords soon. Hey, a girl can dream, right?


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Still no update for B&N.

This is getting ridiculous.


----------



## ML Hamilton (Feb 21, 2011)

I've never seen B&N take so long to update on Smashwords. Bit concerned myself.


----------



## Lisa Scott (Apr 4, 2011)

Maybe they're waiting to see if 12/21/12 does in fact end the world.  

But seriously, is it a matter of the retailers not reporting the information to them?


----------



## Herc- The Reluctant Geek (Feb 10, 2010)

I reckon someone at Smash is running odds on which one of us will snap first. My money's on Patty.


----------



## Emily Ryan-Davis (Jun 8, 2012)

Didn't an email/newsletter/whatever go out from Smashwords some time ago warning that Apple (maybe Kobo too?) would be essentially closed in December? Could be reporting is affected by retailer holiday focus.


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

More than a sales update (almost), what I long for out of them is that long-promised "you can now upload ePubs" update they were calling Smashwords Direct.

Even as late as early November, they were saying "that's planned before the end of 2012."

Well, we're about 20 days away from that...


----------



## britrocker (May 16, 2011)

I find any thread on smashwords amusing.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

ML Hamilton said:


> I've never seen B&N take so long to update on Smashwords. Bit concerned myself.


It took this long about two months ago.


----------



## Shaun4 (Jun 29, 2012)

Personally, I'm waiting to see how my Kobo sales are doing. I ran an ad a while back to juice up the Kobo sales, and my book went way up in the ranks, but I don't know if that meant 1 sale or 10 or 1 million. But it's been months since SW updated Kobo and the last time Kobo money was paid to my SW account was August.


----------



## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Well, one of my books is about to get kicked out of Select because of Smashwords.

Originally, Amazon told me to go ahead and put it into Select when I asked them if I could, even though not all of the other sites had dropped it. 
But they're now running out of patience and understandably so.

Of course, my second and third request to Smashwords has been ignored so far.

You would think some enterprising outfit with a decent web site would find a way to compete with Smashwords.


----------



## Shelley K (Sep 19, 2011)

Quiss said:


> Well, one of my books is about to get kicked out of Select because of Smashwords.
> 
> Originally, Amazon told me to go ahead and put it into Select when I asked them if I could, even though not all of the other sites had dropped it.
> But they're now running out of patience and understandably so.
> ...


If you've given them plenty of time to fix it, go to the retailer directly and explain that it needs to be taken down. That's the only way I ever got mine down from Sony after almost 3 months, and Sony ran me around for at least a couple of weeks at that.

You're not supposed to contact the retailers about these things per Smashwords TOS, and they had the nerve to point that out. To which I pointed out that they didn't leave me much choice by not taking care of it after two months. I have words for it, but they'd only show up as asterisks here.


----------



## Griffin Hayes (Sep 20, 2011)

This is my second time using Smashwords and once again I find myself frustrated at the insane reporting lag. I know it's not completely they're fault since if B&N decides to take their sweet time, what can SW possibly do? Threaten to pull their books. I'm sure B&N would say, "Go ahead!" Too bad. My only sense of how well I'm selling is to check the sales rank.


----------



## Shaun4 (Jun 29, 2012)

My BN sales just updated. Nothing from Kobo yet.


----------



## That one girl (Apr 12, 2011)

Apple updated and I am very pleased.


----------



## Emily Ryan-Davis (Jun 8, 2012)

Sweet. The account balance is updated through Dec 1.


----------



## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

Thank you, GB and AU!


----------



## BrianKittrell (Jan 8, 2011)

Oh, my... ^.^ Four figures...


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Nothing from B&N yet.

Apple has updated. After a long time of never selling anything there, I'm starting to see a trickle come in every month.

ETA: the only thing B&N updated was the balance. Copies sold has not updated since 1 Nov. Is it any different for anyone else?


----------



## CJArcher (Jan 22, 2011)

Patty Jansen said:


> Nothing from B&N yet.
> 
> Apple has updated. After a long time of never selling anything there, I'm starting to see a trickle come in every month.
> 
> ETA: the only thing B&N updated was the balance. Copies sold has not updated since 1 Nov. Is it any different for anyone else?


Same for me, Patty. Apple numbers to Dec 1 and B&N numbers to Nov 1st. At least I can update my spreadsheet for Apple in November, but come on B&N! Update already. So you do better at B&N than Apple? Mine is reversed, but not by a huge amount. This quarter's payment looks like it'll be better than last quarter at least.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

I never sold anything whatsoever on Apple for months and months. Or B&N for that matter.

But sales of the trilogy took off (well, in a moderate but pleasing way) on B&N in June and it looks like the same is now happening on Apple. It takes a LONG TIME to make any headway at any of those venues, but when you do get sales, it's very nice. No promoting, no schlepping around with free days, no whoring for reviews or frantically notifying blogs for freebie days. None of that crap. Bliss.


----------



## Shaun4 (Jun 29, 2012)

Patty Jansen said:


> the only thing B&N updated was the balance. Copies sold has not updated since 1 Nov. Is it any different for anyone else?


it's the same for me. I was happy to see the money in my account and posted about it in a rush to get to work. Now I see that they updated my account for BN sales up to the end of October. Nothing from November yet.


----------



## portiadacosta (Feb 28, 2011)

Patty Jansen said:


> when you do get sales, it's very nice. No promoting, no schlepping around with free days, no whoring for reviews or frantically notifying blogs for freebie days. None of that crap. Bliss.


I know, isn't it heavenly? 

I'm up 50% so far at Smashwords on last quarter, and the big performer is Apple! And I've done nothing to enable that, not a thing, other than write the books, prep them, and upload them to SW.

And for comparison, my December figures so far, at KDP, are 66% down in the US and 78% down in the UK on my totals back in August.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Do you think B&N will EVER update?

Or are they just going to sit on our money.

*royally pissed off*


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

MARK COKER YOU ARE ON NOTICE!

Seriously WTF. If B&N have half a brain, they'd open up for non-US authors and all of us would be over there within five seconds.

I want my B&N updates.

NOW.


----------



## Aaron Pogue (Feb 18, 2011)

Quiss said:


> You would think some enterprising outfit with a decent web site would find a way to compete with Smashwords.


For what it's worth, Draft2Digital.com (now in Public Beta) offers B&N distribution, supports international users, and provides hourly sales updates.


----------



## Irisdeorre (Jul 26, 2011)

I've asked customer service three times about an update and each time I've had a different response. The last response didn't make sense to me so I've queried this with Mark Coker and hopefully I will get a response. 

The email said:

B&N sends us reports weekly.  Our tech team has been preoccupied with NaNoWriMo, gifting, the Christmas rush, and getting the epub submission system into a functional state by year's end.  Whatever you've sold in the time that the reports have not been provided on the site, you will be paid for.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

That's a bullshit response, basically saying that it has been more important to them to save their collective arses over some promises than paying people who put their trust into the site.

That's crap, Mark. If you have some huge projects going and no staff to run the routine operations, you hire someone to do that work. Especially if you've been making as much money as you're boasting about on the blog.

Also: all those things were dealt with three days ago. There are still no updates.

Bullshit.


----------



## WillemThomas (Dec 9, 2010)

I'm now seriously looking at Draft2Digital as my alternate to Smashwords for getting my books up on Apple and B&N.

I'm not a fan of Smashwords' single payment option for international authors. I always fear that Paypal will arbitrarily freeze my account and hold my royalties hostage. Draft2Digital actually offers *gasp* direct deposit. Such a modern concept. 

/glares at Smashwords.

Willem Thomas


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

I would join, but I'm one of these people who actually sells some stuff at Sony and Diesel.


----------



## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

Irisdeorre said:


> I've asked customer service three times about an update and each time I've had a different response. The last response didn't make sense to me so I've queried this with Mark Coker and hopefully I will get a response.
> 
> The email said:
> 
> B&N sends us reports weekly. Our tech team has been preoccupied with NaNoWriMo, gifting, the Christmas rush, and getting the epub submission system into a functional state by year's end. Whatever you've sold in the time that the reports have not been provided on the site, you will be paid for.


You get weekly reports from B&N? I just go to the PubIt site and check it daily (or whenever I think of it). I don't think I've seen an option on PubIt to be sent an actual report, so I don't know how that would be requested.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Jena H said:


> You get weekly reports from B&N? I just go to the PubIt site and check it daily (or whenever I think of it). I don't think I've seen an option on PubIt to be sent an actual report, so I don't know how that would be requested.


PubIt is NOT AN OPTION for non-US authors


----------



## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

Patty Jansen said:


> PubIt is NOT AN OPTION for non-US authors


Ah, understood.


----------



## Windvein (Sep 26, 2012)

I had to reread through the Smashwords Nano promotion to see why this might suck up their time, and all I can say is I'm still not convinced that Nano should have sucked up any of their time. They should be focused on their established authors, not on new authors who are uploading their WORKS IN PROGRESS. I don't get what the appeal was with this at all except as a Look At Me I'm Special I'm Writing a Novel! They weren't even officially affiliated with Nano. I mean the promotion appears worthless. Can someone explain why this was a good idea for authors or Smashwords?

http://www.smashwords.com/about/nanowrimo

And this should never have taken precedence over revenue updates. They get updates weekly from B&N. Why is it now going on eight weeks without an update? I'm happy about the uploading epub option, but they've just confirmed again why I'm going direct with PubIt next time. If it weren't such a hassle to pull the books and lose all the reviews, I'd pull my current ones and upload them direct.


----------



## WillemThomas (Dec 9, 2010)

Patty Jansen said:


> I would join, but I'm one of these people who actually sells some stuff at Sony and Diesel.


Yeah, I do, too. But the bulk of my sales comes through iTunes and B&N, so switching those two channels to D2D would be worth it for me just for the direct deposit option. Anything to surpass Paypal!

Willem Thomas


----------



## Herc- The Reluctant Geek (Feb 10, 2010)

WillemThomas said:


> I'm now seriously looking at Draft2Digital as my alternate to Smashwords for getting my books up on Apple and B&N.
> 
> I'm not a fan of Smashwords' single payment option for international authors. I always fear that Paypal will arbitrarily freeze my account and hold my royalties hostage. Draft2Digital actually offers *gasp* direct deposit. Such a modern concept.
> 
> ...


In the FAQ, DD don't offer direct deposit for international authors, nor do they provide ISBN's, and they also say that their reporting may be delayed by up to 45 days for some outlets. They do, however, have a much prettier site than Smashwords.


----------



## WillemThomas (Dec 9, 2010)

Herc- The Reluctant Geek said:


> In the FAQ, DD don't offer direct deposit for international authors, nor do they provide ISBN's, and they also say that their reporting may be delayed by up to 45 days for some outlets. They do, however, have a much prettier site than Smashwords.


I have a bank account in the states, thanks to RBC, and, as a Canadian, get free ISBNs.

Willem Thomas


----------



## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

Has anyone had good sales and revenue from D2D as yet? How long have they been around?


----------



## Herc- The Reluctant Geek (Feb 10, 2010)

Aussies don't get free ISBN's unfortunately, but we can use Payoneer to get our royalties paid direct. In the end, competition is good. I would not be at all surprised if Smash hurried through their epub file accepting system to match what DD is going to offer.

I like how DD offer a route into KDP and createspace, but their inability to get free books into B&N is a problem.


----------



## katherinef (Dec 13, 2012)

Can we finally get our damn sales numbers?


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Just my thought. I don't want any [expletive] upbeat emails about the year in review. How about some customer service. How about processing that backlog of B&N sales figures that Mark has admitted he has.


----------



## LKWatts (May 5, 2011)

I usually get my Apple sales updates there rather frequently. But then again Apple is the only channel I sell through these days.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Apple is updating. It's a bit weird because it shows the date as 29 Dec, there is an amount but the report doesn't show any sales yet, nor has the running balance been updated.

Oh well, I guess we'll have to wait for the Smashwords hamsters to do their thing.

ETA: don't all go and check at once because the site is reeaaalllyy slow already


----------



## Irisdeorre (Jul 26, 2011)

Asked Mark Coker the question and he didn't reply. Sent another email to customer services and was told that it will be updated in a weeks time. I'm not holding my breath. Honestly this is becoming ridiculous. What I don't understand is that in Marks newsletter he talks about how well the sales have been over the Christmas period at B&N. Well, I haven't seen any evidence of that.


----------



## valeriec80 (Feb 24, 2011)

Irisdeorre said:


> What I don't understand is that in Marks newsletter he talks about how well the sales have been over the Christmas period at B&N. Well, I haven't seen any evidence of that.


I found this a wee bit annoying too. I really love smashwords, and I'm generally the first in line to sing their praises, but this B&N delay is really upsetting to me. I was willing to blame B&N, because they seemed to be having all these issues as of late.

But then he starts bragging about all these numbers he's got, and I'm like, "Okay, where are they in my account? Or are you seriously telling me I sold nothing at B&N in November?" Which I know isn't true from my rankings.

I don't know. I think Mark and his staff truly are overwhelmed, and I think they do the best they can. I don't want to think anything nefarious about them, so I'm going to take a step back and try to calm down. When I look back on the years I've worked with them, I realize that long delays with no reporting are really quite normal. And it's still much better than the reports from a traditional publisher. So. Deep breath.


----------



## Irisdeorre (Jul 26, 2011)

Update. Got a response from Mark, he said that they will be updating sales soon. Not sure what soon means but hey not much to do accept wait.


----------



## Brenda Coulter (Aug 18, 2012)

Patty Jansen said:


> Just my thought. I don't want any [expletive] upbeat emails about the year in review. How about some customer service. How about processing that backlog of B&N sales figures that Mark has admitted he has.


THIS.

Hi, Mark. (We know you read Kindleboards, so I'm addressing you directly.) I'm sure there's a lot going on at Smashwords that we don't know about and might not understand even if we DID know about it. But if your people can't update sales in a timely manner, please DON'T KEEP US HANGING. Tell us why there's a delay, and tell us when we might expect to hear some news. We indie authors are in general a forgiving and understanding bunch. So just treat us with some respect, okay?

ETA: "Soon" is not an acceptable answer, Mark. Telling us "soon" is like saying, "Get off my back. You'll see your updates when you see them!"


----------



## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

Irisdeorre said:


> Update. Got a response from Mark, he said that they will be updating sales soon. Not sure what soon means but hey not much to do accept wait.


I think they were slated to update "soon" anyway, since, as near as I can figure, they do it (full update & payment) about every three months anyway, and the last one was in October.


----------



## Windvein (Sep 26, 2012)

Yes, it looks like Apple is in the process of updating. If I scroll down to Sales and Payments During 2012, I see some new line entries for Apple. Only a few entries for Canada and UK so far. No US numbers. And it looks like they're in the process of updating balances. I see USD conversion amounts for the November Apple sales figures. This is something at least. Really wish we knew what was up with B&N.


----------



## Emily Ryan-Davis (Jun 8, 2012)

Windvein said:


> Yes, it looks like Apple is in the process of updating. If I scroll down to Sales and Payments During 2012, I see some new line entries for Apple. Only a few entries for Canada and UK so far. No US numbers. And it looks like they're in the process of updating balances. I see USD conversion amounts for the November Apple sales figures. This is something at least. Really wish we knew what was up with B&N.


I'm not sure whether to be concerned or puzzled, as I don't see any difference at all in the balance column for Apple sales. Did I not sell to Apple in December at all, or is more info on the way? Here's hoping for the latter.


----------



## Windvein (Sep 26, 2012)

Emily Ryan-Davis said:


> I'm not sure whether to be concerned or puzzled, as I don't see any difference at all in the balance column for Apple sales. Did I not sell to Apple in December at all, or is more info on the way? Here's hoping for the latter.


Hi Emily,

If you're looking at the overall account totals "Books Sold" in the upper left hand side of Sales and Payments, my Apple numbers haven't updated either yet. I was looking at the purple line entries further down the page. I can see Canadian and British Apple sales have been added. The new data should be right at the top. Still no US Apple sales info yet.


----------



## Emily Ryan-Davis (Jun 8, 2012)

Windvein said:


> Hi Emily,
> 
> If you're looking at the overall account totals "Books Sold" in the upper left hand side of Sales and Payments, my Apple numbers haven't updated either yet. I was looking at the purple line entries further down the page. I can see Canadian and British Apple sales have been added. The new data should be right at the top. Still no US Apple sales info yet.


Thanks - I found the entries you're referring to. I'll hang onto hope for a little longer that Apple will come through again in December.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

So far, the only thing that has updated for me is the date in the "updated to" column. There have been no sales added. Apple is not my biggest retailer, and there have been many months that I've sold nothing there.

Has anyone seen any sales with a sale date AFTER 1 Dec?


----------



## Herc- The Reluctant Geek (Feb 10, 2010)

I got some, but none from the USA.


----------



## Shelley K (Sep 19, 2011)

Patty Jansen said:


> So far, the only thing that has updated for me is the date in the "updated to" column. There have been no sales added. Apple is not my biggest retailer, and there have been many months that I've sold nothing there.
> 
> Has anyone seen any sales with a sale date AFTER 1 Dec?


Mine in December aren't showing on the 2013 report, but were added to the 2012, all dated December 29th. Could that be the case with yours?


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Nope. Nothing has been added. Ah well.


----------



## Shelley K (Sep 19, 2011)

Patty Jansen said:


> Nope. Nothing has been added. Ah well.


I've looked a couple of times today, and the numbers have been different. Maybe you're on the last server at the end of the line, and yours just hasn't been hit yet. The numbers are still cranking, it seems.


----------



## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

shelleyo1 said:


> Mine in December aren't showing on the 2013 report, but were added to the 2012, all dated December 29th. Could that be the case with yours?


Yeah, my Apple sales in December are all dated Dec 1 or Dec 29. I have trouble believing that there were NO sales between those two dates, but... that's what it shows.


----------



## Shelley K (Sep 19, 2011)

Jena H said:


> Yeah, my Apple sales in December are all dated Dec 1 or Dec 29. I have trouble believing that there were NO sales between those two dates, but... that's what it shows.


Jena, you don't get real-time dating. It will show all of the month's sales dated with the date the sales were supposed to be updated through.


----------



## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

shelleyo1 said:


> Jena, you don't get real-time dating. It will show all of the month's sales dated with the date the sales were supposed to be updated through.


Well, that shows how closely I've scrutinized the data in the past.


----------



## Aaron Pogue (Feb 18, 2011)

shelleyo1 said:


> Jena, you don't get real-time dating. It will show all of the month's sales dated with the date the sales were supposed to be updated through.


For what it's worth, even if you go direct to Apple they only update the sales data once daily. KDP and iPub are the best in the industry as far as that goes.


----------



## GWakeling (Mar 23, 2012)

Patty Jansen said:


> So far, the only thing that has updated for me is the date in the "updated to" column. There have been no sales added. Apple is not my biggest retailer, and there have been many months that I've sold nothing there.
> 
> Has anyone seen any sales with a sale date AFTER 1 Dec?


I'm glad you mentioned this Patty, because it's updated to Dec 29th for me but no sales. However, I know this isn't true because at least TWO people bought my second book from iBooks in the USA in December because they've told me. I think there's more data to come.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

OK. Now it's updated my balance to the SW total *scratches head*

I think the SW hamsters are lost.


----------



## CJArcher (Jan 22, 2011)

GWakeling said:


> I'm glad you mentioned this Patty, because it's updated to Dec 29th for me but no sales. However, I know this isn't true because at least TWO people bought my second book from iBooks in the USA in December because they've told me. I think there's more data to come.


Are you looking at 2012 or 2013? When I click on 2013 I only have 2 pathetic Smashwords sales, but when I click on 2012, I have tons of others listed, including Apple which are dated 29th December. Now, if we can just get B&N, I can update my spreadsheets.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

For 2012. We'd only get Apple sales for 2013 in February.

I think I'll have to face up to the fact that I didn't sell anything on Apple in December. Strange. I'd been selling small but constant numbers there for a number of months. I sold more than 100 books on Kobo (direct) in last month.

I'm waiting for the B&N sales.


----------



## valeriec80 (Feb 24, 2011)

B&N! B&N! B&N!


----------



## MegHarris (Mar 4, 2010)

Apple seems well and truly updated now, with money moved into the current account balance and everything. It'd be nice if B&N could get updated next...


----------



## Windvein (Sep 26, 2012)

Yeah, Apple has finished updating for me too, but I'm missing this supposed 55% increase to my Apple sales that Mark promised. (Sorry, I can't help snarking.) I got $2 more it looks like in December than November. And needless to say even if I had the 55% increase, my Amazon sales would still have blown that number out of the water. I'm not holding out high hopes for B&N, but I would still REALLY like to know what I've made.


----------



## WillemThomas (Dec 9, 2010)

Kobo is now updating for me, covering October so far.

Willem Thomas


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

I'm with Kobo Writing Life for anything that's not free and over $2.99.


----------



## katherinef (Dec 13, 2012)

My Apple sales increased from last month, so I'm happy. I sold double in Canada and even sold some in countries I haven't sold anything before.   Apple is still outselling Amazon for me. Now if we could get our B&N numbers... Most of my sales come from there. Oh, Kobo updated too. Yeah, I really needed to know I sold one copy of the only book I didn't upload directly to Kobo.   Or are they updating it slowly like they did with Apple? Maybe something still shows up.


----------



## Shelley K (Sep 19, 2011)

Windvein said:


> Yeah, Apple has finished updating for me too, but I'm missing this supposed 55% increase to my Apple sales that Mark promised. (Sorry, I can't help snarking.) I got $2 more it looks like in December than November. And needless to say even if I had the 55% increase, my Amazon sales would still have blown that number out of the water. I'm not holding out high hopes for B&N, but I would still REALLY like to know what I've made.


My Apple December numbers were about half what November pulled in. I haven't had a new release in a few months, which factors in, yet I've made more on Kobo (direct) in January than I apparently did in all of December with Apple.

Of course, I can only seem to get 4 of my titles up on iTunes through Smash, one reason I'm going to try Draft2Digital as soon as I can and see how that shakes out.


----------



## Jill James (May 8, 2011)

Well, Kobo updated and for the first time in a year I have 0 sales there.


----------



## Guest (Jan 10, 2013)

Windvein said:


> Yeah, Apple has finished updating for me too, but I'm missing this supposed 55% increase to my Apple sales that Mark promised. (Sorry, I can't help snarking.) I got $2 more it looks like in December than November. And needless to say even if I had the 55% increase, my Amazon sales would still have blown that number out of the water. I'm not holding out high hopes for B&N, but I would still REALLY like to know what I've made.


Ecological fallacy.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Sony has updated by a week.

I am in the unenviable position that I've sold more on Sony than on Amazon. This is NOT a reflection on excellent Sony sales. WTF, Amazon US, seriously?

ETA: another week added. 

About Apple, I remember something about Apple being closed in December, so maybe they haven't processed their late December sales in this current SW update. That is just a hunch, though.


----------



## cecilia_writer (Dec 28, 2010)

I love Kobo - sales in 6 different currencies! I don't think I've ever seen NZD on there before.


----------



## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

Anyone have ANY sales on Diesel?

I have still to receive payment for the test purchase I made in July!

I think they are crooks, eating our money.

Sorry . . .


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Richardcrasta said:


> Anyone have ANY sales on Diesel?
> 
> I have still to receive payment for the test purchase I made in July!
> 
> ...


I have


----------



## Raquel Lyon (Mar 3, 2012)

Does anyone look at their page views? I look every day, just out of interest. Yesterday my previously pretty graph flatlined, apart from the last couple of days, but with everyone mentioning overworked hamsters, I put it down to a glitch. It's still the same this morning, so I was wondering if anyone else had seen this.

As for Apple, their so called increase hasn't spread my way. After a smattering of sales throughout the year, I haven't sold a jot since Aug!


----------



## CJArcher (Jan 22, 2011)

Windvein said:


> Yeah, Apple has finished updating for me too, but I'm missing this supposed 55% increase to my Apple sales that Mark promised.


A 55% increase from Nov to Dec was about spot-on for me. Still about one tenth of my Amazon sales though. There is now a big gap in my spreadsheet where the B&N figures should be. Sigh.


----------



## Natasha Holme (May 26, 2012)

Smashwords soooo need to update the 'look and feel' of their website too.


----------



## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

Richardcrasta said:


> Anyone have ANY sales on Diesel?
> 
> I have still to receive payment for the test purchase I made in July!
> 
> ...


I got two from them earlier in the year, from South Africa. Took three years to get a sale from there....


----------



## The 13th Doctor (May 31, 2012)

Sony appears to have updated to the 5th Jan.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Holy shit! SW is updating B&N!


----------



## CJArcher (Jan 22, 2011)

Patty Jansen said:


> Holy [crap]! SW is updating B&N!


It's nice to finally get numbers!! Now all we need is the money - I have a nice chunk of change in the accrued column which I'd like to see added to my current account balance.


----------



## julidrevezzo (Sep 15, 2012)

My book price is changed back to normal everywhere but Diesel. It's fouling up Amazon's list. I changed it back right after the new year so, two weeks and counting.

Oh, and on the sales at SW/Diesel/etc question, as far as I can see, the only place my book(s) are selling is via Amazon. Haven't seen penny one from anyone else since August. However I have friends who use Nook and Kobo, so if wasn't for that possible market, I'd be tempted to try Select.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Time to revive this thread.

Smashwords is doing it again! Not updating, I mean.

I've gone to Kobo WL, and will go to PubIt the moment it opens for non-US authors.

I am fed up with this lax reporting. Last month, Mark admitted gleefully that B&N sends them weekly updates. It was like a nyanyanyanyanya in writers' faces. So, what's the excuse not to pass them on?


----------



## kurzon (Feb 26, 2011)

I suspect that Mark was just not communicating very well with that one - unless he specifically says: "We receive comprehensive sales data weekly from B&N, but just don't pass it on to you", then it's more likely that to be "We receive weekly data from B&N, but it's only dribs and drops and we only update when they actually give us the full sales data".  There's no advantage for Smashwords in the delay.

B&N is one of the slowest for updates generally.  I changed prices on one of my books in relation to an upcoming BookBub and Apple & the other retailers changed almost immediately.  B&N _finally_ changed just two days before the promo - I was getting worried.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

With the debacle last month, I distincly read in his response that he'd been receiving sales data from B&N weekly, but just hadn't passed it on. There was no need for him to even mention B&N, because the post was about his new EPUB uploads, and the mention of B&N data sounded like some weird admission.

I don't mind monthly updates, as for Apple, which updates regularly once a month. I am having a lot more trouble with random updates "when we feel like it".


----------



## wildwitchof (Sep 2, 2010)

Hi. I'm dying for my Apple numbers for February to be updated. Anybody else compulsively checking Smashwords? It's the 14th already.

Argh.

I wish they'd send us an email when they update so I don't have to keep checking.

/rant


----------



## mathewferguson (Oct 24, 2010)

Gretchen Galway said:


> Hi. I'm dying for my Apple numbers for February to be updated. Anybody else compulsively checking Smashwords? It's the 14th already.
> 
> Argh.
> 
> ...


lol ... and every KB author checks Smashwords immediately just to see if there is an update.

Nope.


----------



## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

Gretchen Galway said:


> Hi. I'm dying for my Apple numbers for February to be updated. Anybody else compulsively checking Smashwords? It's the 14th already.
> 
> Argh.
> 
> ...


Yeah, I've been checking a bit too much. 

I'm also curious to see how my Feb numbers were for Apple. Hope they update soon.


----------

