What Counts as a Bestseller?

[mountaineer]

What Counts as a Bestseller?
Oct. 11, 2022
By Jordan Pruett

In 1983, William Blatty—author of The Exorcist—sued the New York Times.1 His lawsuit alleged that the Times had incorrectly excluded his latest novel, Legion (a sequel to The Exorcist), from its bestseller list—the coveted ranking that purports to show the books that have sold the most copies that week in the United States. According to Blatty’s lawyers, Legion had sold enough copies to warrant a spot on the list, so its absence was due to negligence or fraud, for which Blatty was entitled to compensation. The Times countered with what might sound like a surprising admission: the bestseller list is not mathematically objective; it is editorial content, which is protected by the First Amendment. The court ruled in favor of the New York Times.

The Blatty case draws attention to a fundamental truth about bestseller lists, one that often gets forgotten amid the drama of their weekly publication: they are not a neutral window into what the public is really reading. Rather, they reflect editorial decisions about how and what to count. Changes on the list might reflect changes in counting procedure, rather than changes in the market. Despite their lack of neutrality—or, perhaps, because of it—these editorial and counting decisions can have a big effect on which books and authors get the honor of appearing on the list; in turn, they shape the public’s perception of what it is reading and what it should consider reading next.  ...

The occasion for this analysis is the recent publication of a dataset I compiled that records every book that made it onto the New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list between 1931 and 2020. The dataset allows one to ask aggregate questions about the history of popular literature in the United States. For example, the following visualization shows which genres have appeared on the list most frequently (among those bestsellers for which a library record could be identified).2 As can be seen, over nearly a century, the lists’ two biggest genres are “historical” and “detective and mystery,” by a fairly large margin.


...  So, what, then, is a bestseller? It seems like the answer should be simple—it’s just a book that sold the best! But, as we’ve seen, the truth turns out to be more complicated. Since novels are published in many different formats and sold at many different kinds of stores, decisions must be made about how and what to count. This is not to say that bestseller lists are arbitrary, or that they can’t be trusted. Rather, it’s just to point out that editorial decisions may favor some books over others.  ...

Entire article at Public Books

[Polly Ticks]

Strangely enough, using the 'editorial decision' criteria, Matt Walsh's "What is a Woman?" didn't make the cut.  Who could have guessed?

[Kamaji]

Like everything else at the NYT, their "best seller" list is simply disguised political propaganda.  Not worth the paper it's printed on.

[Fishrrman]

None of this best-seller stuff is gonna matter for very much longer.

Go to a place called "z-lib.org"
Type in a title or author.
What format do you want to download?

[mountaineer]

None of this best-seller stuff is gonna matter for very much longer.
Go to a place called "z-lib.org"
Type in a title or author.
What format do you want to download?

Not for me. The books I read are all printed on paper.

[Fishrrman]

mountaineer wrote:
"Not for me. The books I read are all printed on paper."

I used to think that way, too.

Then I started experimenting with different types of e-books.

I find that I prefer the free app "Calibre", and either epub or mobi formats.

These days, I do nearly all my reading on my MacBook Pro. Can adjust the font size and backlighting to however I wish for my old eyes.

I don't think I'd want to go back!

[mountaineer]

Just can't do it electronically. I seem to have a Luddite gene.

[Smokin Joe]

None of this best-seller stuff is gonna matter for very much longer.

Go to a place called "z-lib.org"
Type in a title or author.
What format do you want to download?

Checking that out in another window. Thanks for the link! I am about out of places to put bookshelves...

[Kamaji]

Not for me. The books I read are all printed on paper.

Download it in pdf format and then print it.  Still more cost-effective. 

[mountaineer]

Download it in pdf format and then print it.  Still more cost-effective.

As soon as I exhaust the supply of books in my local library, perhaps I shall!

[DefiantMassRINO]

Anything with a sticker that says "Best Seller".



... like this post, which is a New York Times #1 Best Seller.

[roamer_1]

I will back what @Fishrrman says...

I use z-lib, though I use a free little joint called EBoox for an app... Does epub, for sure... It is simple and easy to use, though on a droid it must use GoogleDrive to sync - But it DOES sync, so I can go from my preferred tablet to my phone without losing my place - Which is my main requirement.

Would like to find an app that supports both PC and droid, and would rather it syncs with my normal critical data (which runs through MS OneDrive), But I am a noob at it, and have not found that much yet. This suffices for now.

Currently reading Clive Cussler, The Pharaoh's Secret.

[Kamaji]

As soon as I exhaust the supply of books in my local library, perhaps I shall!

[mountaineer]

Tucker Carlson's biographer tweets:

Chadwick Moore
@Chadwick_Moore
According to Bookscan, and the NYT Bestseller list, “Tucker” sold 3,327 copies (that allegedly includes all preorders) in the first week. Yet in early June: 11,387 books had been ordered from Amazon alone, just two weeks after we announced. We’ve shipped over 68,000 books to retailers, and are preparing to print another 150,000. Amazon harassed thousands of pre-order customers and encouraged them to cancel their orders. Amazon then gave outlandishly late delivery dates (when the book then would arrive in a day or two after the order was placed). And Amazon reported almost zero sales to Bookscan for launch week. Very bizarre, wouldn’t you say?
1:43 AM · Aug 13, 2023