Back when I was running various professional indoor soccer franchises, I was the sort of general manager who could not stand to just let things happen, especially when it came to ticket sales. On game days, I’d hover relentlessly over the sales computer monitor, checking on how many tickets were being bought, where they were being bought, and how fast they were selling. As we got closer to opening the gates, I was the guy constantly peeking outside to see how many cars were coming into the parking lots, or taking a firm look at the ticket windows to see how our walk-up sales were going. I couldn’t help it. I cared about it that much.

It wasn’t until my second stint running a team, when I was GM of the Kansas City Attack, that I attended a league meeting with all the other executives from the various clubs, and I learned there were names for a guy like me. Around the conference table, I mentioned my predilection for following sales so closely, and another GM laughed a little and said, “Oh, you’re a parking lot watcher, huh? Bob, just relax. Once it’s 6:00 for a 7:00 game, there’s nothing you can do. Go sit in your office and relax. The deed is done.”

He might as well have been telling me to go juggle flaming knives. I couldn’t even comprehend the idea that I wouldn’t worry about it, stress over it, and watch it all carefully. As I said before, I cared that much.

To be fair, I drove my ticket managers a little nutty, constantly elbowing them out of the way to reset the computer to update the sales. And I probably caused a few staff members to think I was nuts, as I walked around constantly looking at who was coming in the gates, or worse yet who was NOT coming in. But that was me. I cared that much.

My first job in racing was also as a GM, but this time it was Heartland Park instead of the Indianapolis Twisters. The magnetic pull of watching ticket sales, and then watching the traffic come into the track, remained. Even during my 20-year run as a PR rep, a job in which I had no responsibility for ticket sales, I couldn’t help it. I’d take the time to look at the incoming traffic, or check on the walk-up, or stare at the grandstands to see how “we” did despite the fact “we” really had nothing to do with me. On my NHRA blog, I’d often post photos of long lines at the ticket windows, or endless streams of traffic, or packed parking lots. I cared that much.

So now I’ve got a book for sale. I bet you can see where I’m going with this. It’s a little frustrating, because Amazon only updates the sales figures at the end of each month. But, even though the book went on sale at the end of May, there’s still a lag between when any of you hit the “Purchase” button and the moment that transaction is registered in Amazon’s system. So, that last week of May ended up being lumped in with all of June in terms of sales. That means I still have no idea how many books have sold on Amazon, and since it’s going to represent a gigantic percentage of online sales (I mean, really, what other site comes to mind first when you think “I want to buy that book”?) I’m nearly totally in the dark.

One place where I’ve got a little bit of light shining through is Kindle sales, on Amazon. That option just became available within the week, and Amazon does afford me an analytics page for those sales, although it’s rudimentary. All it shows me is how many Kindle versions sell on any given day, and the numbers tend to only be updated once or twice per day. It does, though, inform me of the massive amount of money I’m making each week. Those boatloads of dollars will be direct-deposited into my new LLC business account once a month or so. So far, in eight days of Kindle sales, I’ve earned $124.86 in royalties! Woo Hoo! New tax bracket, here I come!!!

The one thing I can keep an eye on, in terms of paperback sales, is my ranking on Amazon’s sales chart. We hit No. 42 on the first day, in our category, and now swing wildly from around 180 to as high (low?) as 1,200 on a daily basis. It’s easy to track the PR effort that way, but I also get surprised from time to time, just as I was this morning. The book was ranked around 1,000 when I went to bed last night, but it was at No. 243 when I got up this morning. Weird how that ebbs and flows. I really don’t completely understand all the reasons why it jumps up and slides down for reasons I didn’t personally attend to, but knowing a little bit about the stock market (thanks to what my incredible wife does for a living) I do know that wild swings in share prices are usually (but not always) a reflection of low volume. My guess is that our category (Sports & Outdoors – Biographies and Memoirs) doesn’t exactly pace Amazon in terms of overall sales. If that’s the case, it might only take six or eight sales to jump the ranking up a lot. Or maybe it’s 60 or 80. Who knows? Not me. Just like I was the last person to get his own copies, I appear poised to be the last person who knows how many people are buying the book.

We still have a ton of PR and publicity to do, and we’ll have some direct sales at the various races I’ll be going to, plus we have a few signing parties coming up, so we’ll see.

The money means nothing to me, just to be clear. That’s why I was joking about the Kindle sales. I never did this for the money. The way Outskirts works, the income on book sales gets split at least three ways. Amazon makes their profit, Outskirts makes their chunk, and I get what’s left. It’s not much. Less than $10 per book.

But I care about sales because I want as many people as possible to read it. I think I created something enjoyable, and I want to share it. As my friend Kelly Topolinski posted on Twitter: “Hey guys. My friend Bob Wilber made us a present! We all get to enjoy it!” That was cool.

And, of course, word of mouth plays a big role in it, just like it does in ticket sales for sporting events. That takes some time to filter down through the various levels, but if a fan goes to a game or a race and has an awesome unbelievable time, you would hope they’d go home and tell some other people how incredible it was. I know when Barbara and I attended the Minnesota United soccer match, we made it a point to tell anyone who would listen how great it was, and how entertaining the entire experience was. As Barb said, “I never dreamed a 1-0 game could ever be that much fun and that exciting.”

On the flip side, if a customer has a really negative experience, you don’t even need to worry about them spreading the word. They will. If they have a great time, you hope they tell someone. Anyone. If they have a terrible time, you can expect them to tell anyone who will listen. That was a message I constantly harped on with my staff members at the soccer teams. If you exceed expectations, you won’t have much to worry about.

What I’m hoping is that if you bought it, and you liked it, you’ll share your thoughts with friends and strangers. Spread the word. Word of mouth works, it just takes a while. And hey, I may not have patience as a core trait, but I don’t have much choice.

I think I’ll go look at Amazon to see the ranking right now. As my ticket manager would say at the St. Louis Storm, “You can’t help but monitor the monitor, can you? You’re a monitor monitor. Go away.”

(Theme music plays…)

That didn’t take long. I bookmarked the page yesterday to save a few steps. Now No. 349 in the category. That’s pretty good for a book that’s been on sale nearly three weeks. As they say in the music biz, maybe it’s “got legs” or at least a little bit of staying power.

One of the drivers (meaning something that drives sales, not someone who drives a car) is that PR stuff, and this week my Skype interview with Lewis Bloom went “live” on NHRA.com. We had a lot of fun doing it, and I think it turned out great. I also think it’s easily apparent that Lewis and I like each other and care about each other. Those are great interviews to do. In the off chance you haven’t seen it yet (really?) it’s here:

http://www.nhra.com/news/2017/bats-balls-and-burnouts

Fun stuff. Lewis is a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. He’s from New Jersey and he lived a long time in Asbury Park, so he’s been following Bruce since he was an unknown playing clubs. After we closed the interview, we stayed on Skype for a bit and I showed him the poster I had framed for Barbara, who is nearly as big a fan of The Boss as Lewis is. It’s from a show he often does in a small hall in Pittsburgh, with local legend Joe Grushecky. I turned my laptop so he could see it and he got really excited, saying, “Oh man! I’ve seen him and Joe play there. It’s awesome.”

So, I’m going to wrap this up now. Time to go run some errands around the Twin Cities, not the least of which is the pick-up of some new cushions for our porch furniture. Hey, the glider, rocking chair, and ottoman are only about 12 years old. I think it’s time.

See you next week. I hope “Bats, Balls, & Burnouts” still has those “legs” and the word continues to spread. I leave you with two thoughts:

As always, if you read this blog, and you liked it, please take a moment to “Like” it by clicking on the button at the top.

And, if you read the book, and you liked it, spread the word. Facebook, Twitter, smoke signals, message in a bottle… It all keeps those “legs” going

Bob Wilber, at your service, monitoring the monitor!