More data on why reviews are predictive of very little

A little over a year ago I published a post about why book reviews on places like Amazon and Goodreads mean very little in determining the success or enjoyment level of a book. They simply show you who is best at getting books into the hands of people who are most likely to leave a review.

Well, I have even more data to share with you today.

My most reviewed book (outside of anthologies) is Sorry for Existing. It has 68 reviews on Goodreads.

I'm going to be generous and say that Sorry for Existing has generated maybe $5,000 in revenue for me over its lifetime.

Maybe.

I think the number is probably closer to $3,500, but I don't have all my data from conventions. Last year I said it was $2,000 at launch, which means $3,500 sounds right to me. Not bad, but certainly not a huge seller for me, either.

I do know with certainty that book has generated $38.80 in KDP revenue and literally $0 in revenue across other platforms.

It was on permafree for over a year, and in that time I gave 5,300 copies o…