Hello all!

Is there any way I can find information of book sales for a specific book, without contacting the publisher directly? I'm interested in the stats on these two non-fiction works:

978-0572030452 "Lay Back and Think of Winning" by Nigel Paul, Foulsham
978-1905156450 "A Bloody Good Winner" by Dave Nevison, Highdown.

Is this info generally available, or could someone please help me find it?
Kind regards

I doubt that you will find many, if any, publishers willing to give out sales figures to a third party.

Sure. I was hoping that a reader of this forum may have access to the Nielsen data, and would drop a hint here!

I could drop a hint -- but it wouldn't be about the Nielsen data.

Have you considered contacting the authors or approaching a publisher?

You are worrying this from the wrong end, man.

I think your idea for a book is a good one.
I think your best bet would be a sort of racy bio combined with your betting secrets.

But there is no point trying to find out what books in the genre sell like. Yours might or might not be in the same neighborhood.

What is more important it to develop a query and start seeing what interest there is. If nobody is buying, there's not point in hassling about the sales figures.

(That said: amazon rankings might be a barometer)

Tell you what I think: I think you might have a good solid candidate for self-published title. Maybe even something gamblers and football betters would pay a premium for.
And there are direct routes to those people, aren't there?

So you're talking a niche book (not that many people are serious sports gamblers compared to the amount that, say, read mysteries or romances) you have direct marketing tools available to access that niche.

I'd say do a good solid job of hitting the market. Agents, publishers, etc.
If you haven't gotten a nibble in a year, publish it yourself.

Your worries about giving away your stuff for nothing, if you examine them...
Once the book is published it can be passed around, put in libraries. People can make copies and mil them to friends, put stuff on websites, etc.

The way you do something like that is come out big and hard with a great title, a dyanmic book with appeal byind the "secret info" thing, and have it all over the place for sale at once.

Good luck

Thanks everyone for suggestions so far. Lin has hit the nail on the head with the "come out big and hard" idea - exactly as I was thinking and planning. I plan a promotional website with premium content, a secondary book(s), and software sales of the betting application I use. In short I'll be turning this into more of a business that just a book.

I'm now attempting to contact the authors to gauge expected sales. As mentioned earlier, my concern is achieving only limited sales, in which case my ideas would be in the public domain for zilch. I can't risk that. I was hoping that the book would be the same ilk as Nassim Taleb's "Folled by Randomness" / "The Black Swan", but the initially the most similar would be the aforementioned books.

I shall let you know how I get on!

As an aside, is there generally no way of getting book sales information? Nielsen appear to be the only supplies of such data but are seemingly unwilling to release this outside of the publisher/retailer trade. Do any individual have access?

I'll bet if there was a way you would have found it by now.

Strangely, you don't seem the gambling sort.

I am not tough enough. I remember going to Ayr Racecourse many years ago. I bet against my father (George). One of the horses was "Father George" and he placed a bet out of character fron his normal form researching self. I had taken a fancy to "Molly's Girl" as she walked around the paddock. I checked the listing and saw that she was from a local stable and placed a bet. It was a photo-finish, but I knew my horse had won before the result was announced. I was jumping up and down and my parents thought I was loopy. They thought I had backed the losing "Father George" but I hadn't!

I collected fourteen pounds from the win and I was ecstatic -- until the event was over and I stood in the bar waiting for my mother who needed to visit the ladies before the drive back to Glasgow. As I waited, I spotted a young couple with a baby in a pushchair. The young man was ashen. I've never seen such a pathetic couple. It tore at my heart. I wanted to give him my winnings but I knew that was no solution. It ruined my day. I've never placed a bet since.

A good decision. Betting for a a horse to win for no other reason than its name is a quick way to the poorhouse, and demonstrates a clear ingorance of probability and risk control. Your proficiency in poetic prose has prevented a life of poverty.

I placed my bet because Molly's Girl was the best turned out horse in the paddock and she was from a local stable.

The ashen young man had probably lost a month's salary and my winnings would have been scant compensation. It's hard to enjoy spending unearned money knowing that the money was someone else's hard-earned cash. Money that could be spent on children, not frittered away on a racecourse.

Horses? Never trust a horse. I had the best deal in the world when I worked for Pinkerton's and had an undercover job with the goal of placing bets on horses. I could keep whatever I won and the agency would reimburse me for my losses. Eight men had tried before me and failed but I managed to find a way to place the bets for three days running. Running, or walking, is something the nags I bet on are still doing because I never made a cent.

Lin handed out some great advice.