A database showing how many copies of a book have sold?

[MarkEsq]

Is there such thing as a database that says how many copies of a particular novel have sold? I always see that JK Rowling has sold fifty three kazillion and John Grisham has sold eighty one matrillion, but what about the "regular" authors? I'd be curious to know how many Peter de Vries sells, or David Lindsey. Does such a beast exist?

[mdin]

Most publishers are tight-lipped about how many books have sold.

If a book is distributed by Ingram (which many, but not all, books are), you can call them, and an automated system will tell you how many books are in stock, how many sold this week, last week, this year, and last year. These aren't all the sales though. They won't count sales to libraries or through other distributors or books bought directly from the publisher. Still, it's a nice tool to have. Especially if your royalty checks say you've sold three copies while Ingram says 3,000.

The number to Ingram is 1-800-937-8000 extension 36803. Then put in the ISBN.

Out of sheer boredom, I just called for David Lindsey's Face of the Assassin, the hardback.

Total in stock: 39
Sales this week: 0 (I'm calling early Sunday morning, though)
Sales last week: 2
Sales this year: 22
Sales last year: 1,942

I went ahead and called for my own book (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1931095515), which came out in 2003 from a very small press.

Total in stock: 15
Sales this week: 0
Sales last week: 4
Sales this year: 57
Sales last year: 247

I get a decent amount of sales, I believe, from sources other than Ingram, but these numbers do represent a large portion.

Now let's check on the hardcover of The DaVinci Code:

Total in stock: 5,289
Total on order: 1,824
Sales this week: 0
Sales last week: 1712
Sales this year: 13,994
Sales last year: 148,781

[James D. Macdonald]

You're looking for Nielsen Bookscan. A subscription is expensive -- the sort of rate you'd expect if company money is being expended.

[maestrowork]

The Book Standard (www.thebookstandard.com) contains a lot of information -- it's like the Hollywood Reporter for publishing. It includes Nielson BookScan info and Kirkus reviews, etc. They have an introductory rate of $9.95 for industry professionals, but I don't know what they standard subscription rate is.