Yes, the best sellers lists are biased and basically a popularity contest. What’s broken about this system is that most people don’t understand what it means to be a “best seller.” Even the lists themselves don't seem to understand that, since it’s not just a certain number of sales that lands you on one of these lists. You can sell just as many, or more, books as someone who makes the list and not know why they didn't pick you. The New York Times does not disclose all factors they consider in determining whether or not a book will hit the list.However, if the book ships early, sales numbers can be spread out over a couple of weeks and dilute the book's rank on a best sellers list. All preorders count towards the first week of sales.Some retailers, like airports, delay their reporting for weeks or even months, which can skew the results and dilute sales numbers.
Another week, you might miss it with over 10,000 sales. If reported sales are low one week, you could hit the list with a few thousand sales.
You can sell a ton of books and not hit that list if it's not the right genre or format. The Wall Street Journal list is made up of mostly business hardcover and non-fiction books.They also only have one list, which, some say, makes it a more objective list. USA Today is the only list that calculates the rank of a book solely by sales figures.Every list has their own criteria for what qualifies as a “best seller” (surprisingly, it's usually not just how many books you sell).There's more than one best sellers list ( The New York Times currently has over 30 different lists based on genre).Here are some things you may not have known about the best sellers lists: Suffice it to say, they’re all different but have some similarities, and landing a spot on any one of them is difficult. I certainly didn’t - until I began researching this subject. The best overview of the different lists and how they work can be found on Tim Ferriss’s blog. But no New York Times. Why not? How best sellers lists workįirst, it’s helpful to understand how these lists work. It hit USA Today, Publisher’s weekly (two weeks in a row), and the Washington Post best sellers list. The book did about 15,000 preorders instead of the anticipated 10,000 (which some say is the magic number you need to hit the list, but nobody knows for sure). For some reason, though, the book didn’t make the NYT list. When I launched The Art of Work in March, I ended selling more copies than planned. But what I learned from the experience was invaluable. In spite of all my wishing and work, the dream just didn’t come true. That kind of disappointment is hard. And I honestly thought I had it in the bag. I followed the rules: wrote the goal down, pictured it in my mind, and worked like mad to make it happen. It was one of a handful of aspirations I had for the year. But thanks for reminding me.” Photo Credit: Kevin Prichard Photography via Compfight ccĪnyone who’s paid attention to my recent launch knows I set a public goal of hitting that list. The other day, my friend Darrell asked me on a webinar in front of hundreds of people how it felt to not hit The New York Times Best Sellers list with my latest book.
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