Is there any way to tell how sales are doing on Amazon?
Amazon plays this information close to the vest. The Amazon ranking does not tell you the number of books sold. A book that is ranked over 100,000 might sell a few books a month. A book ranked over 500,000 is basically dead in the water. From my own info, a ranking around 30,000 means about 50 or so books sold a month, and a ranking around 3,000 means a few hundred a month. You can google around for some articles that try to decode the Amazon rankings, but I think my numbers above are pretty close.
I don’t know whey Amazon still says my new books will ship in 2 to 4 weeks. They have orderd about 100 of them as of a week ago, so I’m sure they have arrived. I’ve sold a total of 700 signed pre-orders, plus Amazon, plust another 400 to other wholesale outlets such as Delta Press.