Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

What is a bestseller?

Here's an article talking about a self-published book that reached bestseller status, if one is honest about "bestseller = a kazillion copies of the book sold."  Sadly some sources that create bestseller lists lie.  They crop their data.  Cropped data is worse than useless.  That's not a bestseller list; it's a list of "high-selling books that some dude things are Worthy."  Just call it an Editor's Pick list and be done with it.

Why is this important?  Well, it's a lot like crowdfunding.  Conventional markets, and awards, and all that other jazz are still largely ignoring crowdfunded works (with a few notable exceptions, like the Nebula with The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland...)  If you want to know what is going on in a field, then you have to look at ALL of it, not just the parts that you personally think are special.  Otherwise you will get blindsided by the new things.  The Internet, social networking, and other cool new things are making it possible for individuals or casual groups to achieve things that used to be possible only for Big Business.  So don't take your eye off the ball.
Tags: economics, news, reading, writing
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  • 3 comments
eseme

eseme

February 12 2011, 23:57:50 UTC 10 years ago

Yeah, I stopped caring about the Times when they decided that kids books were a threat.

I don't have a quibble with breaking out types of book (hardcover versus trade versus mass market). That can be educational. But changing your list because a book sells better than any other book... is zany.
ysabetwordsmith

Yes...

ysabetwordsmith

February 13 2011, 00:56:14 UTC 10 years ago

I have no problem with "bestselling X" lists. I have a problem with people calling a list "bestselling" without qualifier after they have deliberately removed books or whole categories from it. That's data cropping; it is misleading and destructive and wrong.