Bestseller lists are tricky these days, especially with so much uncertainty around how they’re made. You might want to check out HiFive Star for managing honest reviews and getting clearer insights on what readers really think. It helped me see beyond the usual rankings and made tracking book popularity more straightforward.
Kathleen, thank you so much for sharing this post. It's such an important issue, and I'm grateful that you're helping to demystify the "bestseller enigma." 😊
As a published author I’ve heard that Bookscan is NOT as accurate at tracking sales as they claim. Yet the first thing an agent or editor will do when negotiating a book deal is pull up an authors numbers. Have you ever thought about doing a post about this?
I've written about it in different ways here. The reason they do it is because there is no other service that aggregates sales figures. Bookscan represents about 80% of sales, and they are not that far off from the actual numbers. You won't find that big of a discrepancy.
Thank you so much for your transparency! This industry feels like a bank vault where only a selected few have access to the truth. The doggy photos are wonderful. It’s great to get to know more about Substack fellow via their fur babies :-)
Thank you for this interesting article, which almost begs the obvious question. How meaningful is a "best-seller" list when slick marketing can virtually propel a book onto the top ten, fifteen, or twenty-odd? Indeed, Alinka Rutkowska's Leaders Press has "guaranteed" authors that their works will be on a best-seller list. [At one time, the fee was as low as $5,000 plus a chapter of twenty or so pages.]
I would LOVE to have regional bestseller lists all up in my face instead of the NYT list. It would be so interesting to see what is selling well, where.
Quite frankly it’s a bit odd how they are all ‘Sunday Times Best Sellers’ here - most people with intelligence smelt the proverbial rat. Anyway it is good to shine a light. Keep up the great work!
The closest equivalent I can think of is the movie box office where you have reliable, daily updates on ticket sales. It's astounding to me how the data on book sales is so opaque and yet so much of the industry hinges upon that. Great article!
Thanks so much. When there are big stakes for a book, we’d get “dailies,” a daily list of retail accounts & what they sold each day. I don’t think that happens anymore. You’re right about the film industry. There’s also streaming and the music industry. They utilize data so much more effectively.
I really appreciate that you specifically focus on solutions in these posts. It will be interesting to see where things go. All of this, plus Goodreads getting rid of their children's books in the Goodreads choice awards has left the kid lit community feeling a bit at a loss lately.
I wondered why I wasn't asked to vote on Children's books in the Choice Awards. I thought maybe they'd tracked that I wasn't a child or a librarian, or a mother or a teacher. I didn't realize the whole category was gone.
Bestseller lists are tricky these days, especially with so much uncertainty around how they’re made. You might want to check out HiFive Star for managing honest reviews and getting clearer insights on what readers really think. It helped me see beyond the usual rankings and made tracking book popularity more straightforward.
Kathleen, thank you so much for sharing this post. It's such an important issue, and I'm grateful that you're helping to demystify the "bestseller enigma." 😊
As a published author I’ve heard that Bookscan is NOT as accurate at tracking sales as they claim. Yet the first thing an agent or editor will do when negotiating a book deal is pull up an authors numbers. Have you ever thought about doing a post about this?
I've written about it in different ways here. The reason they do it is because there is no other service that aggregates sales figures. Bookscan represents about 80% of sales, and they are not that far off from the actual numbers. You won't find that big of a discrepancy.
80% of hardcover sales, correct?
Thank you so much for your transparency! This industry feels like a bank vault where only a selected few have access to the truth. The doggy photos are wonderful. It’s great to get to know more about Substack fellow via their fur babies :-)
Love this so much. Jane is the perfect person to make this happen.
Thank you for this interesting article, which almost begs the obvious question. How meaningful is a "best-seller" list when slick marketing can virtually propel a book onto the top ten, fifteen, or twenty-odd? Indeed, Alinka Rutkowska's Leaders Press has "guaranteed" authors that their works will be on a best-seller list. [At one time, the fee was as low as $5,000 plus a chapter of twenty or so pages.]
I would LOVE to have regional bestseller lists all up in my face instead of the NYT list. It would be so interesting to see what is selling well, where.
Right? I hate that we don't have that right now.
Thanks for writing about this important issue, Kathleen.
I just wanted to let everyone know the Hot Sheet bestseller lists are free to everyone, no cost involved to view them. :)
Here's October 2023:
https://hotsheetpub.com/2023/11/october-2023-bestseller-lists/
November 2023 will be released on Wednesday at noon Eastern.
Hi Jane--sorry! I will amend in my newsletter.
no worries & thank you!
Quite frankly it’s a bit odd how they are all ‘Sunday Times Best Sellers’ here - most people with intelligence smelt the proverbial rat. Anyway it is good to shine a light. Keep up the great work!
The closest equivalent I can think of is the movie box office where you have reliable, daily updates on ticket sales. It's astounding to me how the data on book sales is so opaque and yet so much of the industry hinges upon that. Great article!
Thanks so much. When there are big stakes for a book, we’d get “dailies,” a daily list of retail accounts & what they sold each day. I don’t think that happens anymore. You’re right about the film industry. There’s also streaming and the music industry. They utilize data so much more effectively.
The article is great the dog photos are SPECTACULAR.
Thank you! They are being naughty this weekend, but I love them endlessly.
I really appreciate that you specifically focus on solutions in these posts. It will be interesting to see where things go. All of this, plus Goodreads getting rid of their children's books in the Goodreads choice awards has left the kid lit community feeling a bit at a loss lately.
I wondered why I wasn't asked to vote on Children's books in the Choice Awards. I thought maybe they'd tracked that I wasn't a child or a librarian, or a mother or a teacher. I didn't realize the whole category was gone.
Yup. That plus Barnes and Noble resrudcturing their middle grade hardcover buying has made it an interesting year for us kid lit authors.
It’s really something.
So much truth. Few people realize that the 'best seller' lists should be renamed 'the books we want to push list.' Thanks, Kathleen.
There is writing and then there’s the business of writing. And from what you are describing much of it is not on the up and up. Well done post.
Thank you. It’s complicated.
I understand and I’m with you!