Newsletters, writing and media
For authors selling from their own store: which readers come back for the next book.
A self-published author earns on retailers and often from a direct store too, where ebooks, signed copies and box sets sell without a retailer's cut. Tally reads the direct sales and ties each one to the visit behind it, so you can see which sends, series pages and reader groups sell books.
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01How they sell
- One-offEbooks, audiobooks and signed paperbacks bought one at a time, with box sets and whole-series bundles that make one order worth several books.
- SubscriptionA reader membership that delivers chapters before release, a short story each month or bonus scenes, billed monthly from the author's site.
02Payments it reads
- Lemon SqueezyEbook and audiobook files sold as Lemon Squeezy products, with a checkout link on each book page that carries the visitor's id in its custom data.
- StripeAuthor stores built on their own site take payment through Stripe Checkout, which also suits signed print copies with shipping added.
What Tally can't read
- Sales on Amazon KDP, Apple Books, Kobo or any other retailer aren't read; Tally sees only what sells through your own checkout.
- Orders in a Shopify store aren't read as orders; only payments that land in a connected Stripe, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy or Polar account are.
- Kickstarter pledges for a special edition aren't read.
- A click from your site to a retailer is counted as an outbound click, but the purchase on the retailer's side is never seen.
03Where buyers come from
- Reader newsletterLaunch-day sends are when a new book's direct copies move. Tag each send with UTMs and every launch shows its own revenue.
- Back matterThe link at the end of an ebook to the next in the series reaches readers who just finished one, so give it its own campaign.
- Facebook reader groupsGenre groups send readers through Facebook's in-app browser, which drops the referrer; Readable Direct names those visits instead of lumping them in.
- TikTokA book video can send a burst of phone visitors who look at the series page and come back later on another visit to buy.
04What Tally answers
Do readers who start with book one buy the rest of the series?
Lifetime value counts each reader under the source of their first visit and adds every later order, so the repeat rate shows how many came back for the next book and what they spent in all.
Lifetime valueDid the launch email or the reader group sell more copies?
The breakdowns put revenue beside each source, referrer and campaign, so a UTM-tagged launch email and a group post can be ranked by what they sold rather than by clicks.
Sources with revenueDoes the free sample chapter on my site sell the book?
What they read compares engaged time and scroll depth on each page for buyers and everyone else. If buyers read the sample to the end and others leave halfway, the sample is pulling its weight.
What they readHow many visitors pick a retailer instead of buying direct?
Add data-fast-goal to the retailer buttons and the goals view gives their completions next to the visitors who bought from your store, so you can see how much of the interest you keep.
Goals and funnelsWhy is so much launch traffic marked Direct?
Readable Direct splits no-referrer visits into typed or bookmarked, shared links, returns from checkout and in-app browsers like Facebook's or TikTok's, which strip the referrer before the reader lands.
Readable Direct
05Numbers worth watching
- Repeat rate
- The share of readers who bought more than once, by first source; a series lives on readers who come back for book two.
- Revenue per visitor
- Revenue over visitors for each source, which shows whether a big burst from a video is worth more than a small, loyal list.
- Goal conversion
- How many visitors click a retailer button against how many buy direct, by source, as you move readers to your own store.
- Refunds and chargebacks
- Ebook refunds against their source, which can point at a promotion that reached readers outside your genre.
06An example
Lifetime value by first source
All time: every payment since 1 Nov 2025. The period above doesn't apply.
| First source | Customers | Lifetime revenue | Average value | Renewals | Repeat rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GoogleOrganic Search | 325 | $40,560 | $125 | 845 | 52% |
| ChatGPTAI Assistants | 126 | $21,071 | $167 | 391 | 61% |
| Direct | 178 | $18,216 | $102 | 374 | 44% |
| NewsletterEmail | 94 | $17,362 | $185 | 357 | 69% |
| Hacker NewsOrganic Social | 84 | $11,741 | $140 | 227 | 55% |
| x.comOrganic Social | 115 | $10,190 | $89 | 161 | 33% |
| RedditOrganic Social | 84 | $9,016 | $107 | 160 | 40% |
| PerplexityAI Assistants | 42 | $6,342 | $151 | 101 | 57% |
| Every source | 1,048 | $134,498 | $128 | 2,616 | 51% |
A customer is a visitor linked to a sale, counted under the source of their first visit. Lifetime revenue is net of refunds and chargebacks; repeat rate is the share who paid more than once (a renewal, an upgrade or another purchase). $13,167 from 426 payments not linked to a visitor is in no row.
07Setting up
- WordPressOn a WordPress author site, add the tag through the theme's header or a header-scripts plugin, so book pages and the store carry it.
- Lemon SqueezyConnect Lemon Squeezy with an API key and pass the visitor's id in each checkout link's custom data from the book page.
- Put a UTM-tagged link to your store in each ebook's back matter, so readers who finish one book and buy the next are credited to it.
08Questions
Will Tally show my Amazon sales?
No. Retailer sales happen on the retailer's side and never reach your payment provider. Tally reads direct sales through Stripe, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy or Polar, and counts clicks to retailer pages as outbound clicks.
Can I see which book a reader bought first?
Yes. A customer's row lists their payments in order with the visit behind the first, and their journey shows the pages they read before each order.
My store emails the ebook after payment. Is the sale still linked?
Delivery doesn't matter. The sale links through the visitor's id passed at checkout, or by email if your site identified the reader on an earlier visit; otherwise it's counted as unlinked.