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I don't trust any of the figures either. All we hear is that it takes weeks to get an accurate count, and I believe Rush said his experience with his last book lends him to believe it's true. Still, I find it odd that it would take so long to get a fairly accurate count of units sold. The larger chains must certainly have elborate point-of-sale systems that can report by SKU number, and in this era of large ERP back office computing systems one would think they could establish retail sales levels daily, but what do I know.

Whatever the numbers are, this tactic is SO Hillary it's nauseating. Come to think of it, anything to do with Hillary is nauseating.

Ah, but it might not be about units sold. I kid you not. Depending on the list, the people compiling the info might be asking retailers (who may or may not have a reason to skew the answer) about something as squishy as sales rankings, and then only retailers in big cities. This whole mess needs to be investigated. These stupid lists are marketing tools now as much as anything else. Consumers are getting duped.

Still, I find it odd that it would take so long to get a fairly accurate count of units sold. The larger chains must certainly have elborate point-of-sale systems that can report by SKU number, and in this era of large ERP back office computing systems one would think they could establish retail sales levels daily, but what do I know.

Compared to other consumer industries, publishing is antiquated. Yes, various chains can keep up with their own sales, but that obviously doesn't present an accurate picture.

As far as industry-wide sales figures, there are constant articles about the fact that there is no infrastructure in place to accurately track sales. Authors reguarly complain that even their royalty statements are obscure to the point of being impossible to decipher. Given all this, and like I said, it's reported and discussed regularly, it's pretty amusing that all at once there seems to be some state-of-the-art system in place for tracking the sales of this one book.