If I thought writing the blog made me obsessed about stats, I had no idea what I was in for when I actually published something. It’s even worse now that the book is on three different stores (more if you count all of Amazon’s countries, made my first couple of UK sales but still waiting on Germany). The book’s been out about five weeks now, and I thought I’d share some of the tips and tricks for trying to maintain at least part of your sanity:
Tips for keeping yourself from hitting “refresh”
1) Read your book. You’ve spent so long writing it, take a moment to actually enjoy it. Wait. Was that a typo? Forget what I just said!
2) Schedule a dental appointment. Preferably one that involves a root canal.
3) Play with your cat.
4) Take the dog for a W-A-L-K.
5) If I check the UK stats that’s in a different time zone right? There’s like a six hour difference or something. That’s not five minutes.
6) Tell your wife every time you check the stats.
7) Drive to Cleveland, stand in the public square, and protest the NSA. Chances are they’ll at least buy a copy if they haven’t already.
8) Take a hammer to your keyboard or your forehead, whichever costs less to replace.
9) Drive to work (most peaceful 70 minutes of my day, especially the morning).
10) Crash your host server (written as Kindle Direct Publishing stats seem to be down).
11) Organize your 2400 eBook library. Decide which books should go on the Nook and which on the Kindle.
12) Throw up your hands in frustration as your Nook forgets your shelves AGAIN!
13) Beta read for a friend.
14) Create a new fractal.
15) Watch Star Trek all day.
16) Wait. Kindle’s back up. What was I saying?
17) Futz with your Goodreads/Wordress/Facebook page.
18) Thank your beta readers, your blog readers, your reader readers.
19) Make lists.
20) Tell your wife you love her. Worth more than any sale.
[BTW] : Ben Trube, Writer 
Skip #6! 🙂
The obsession will go away eventually. When you first publish, it’s hard not to check it all the time. It’s like getting a new cell phone. The first day is awesome and you can’t stop playing with it. Within a week, you’re over it and looking for your next upgrade.