Anonymous asked:

Hey Jordan, no one in the industry seems to want to answer this question: Why is the Diamond chart wrong when pointing out low sales, but something to be looked at when talking about high sales? Spencer was (incorrectly) pointing to it about Secret Empire selling so high on the April charts. Whats the deal?

Well, I don’t know EXACTLY what you are referring to…but I think the answer to your question is all about context.

When you say “Why is the Diamond chart wrong when pointing out low sales” I am guessing you are talking about a time when someone says “Such and such book sold so low, therefore it should be cancelled”? And likely someone said something like “That’s not the whole story, there are a lot of factors involved in these things beyond direct market sales.” And that’s true.

But that does not mean that Direct Market sales are completely UNimportant. If things sell well in the direct market that is still something to crow about.

It’s like “Howcome when you got an D in that class you said ‘Well, my GPA is still good,’ but then when you got an A you were celebrating?” Because the overall goal is the GPA, but each individual good grade contributes to that.