NY TIMES BEST SELLER???

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profen4

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I know the formula for what gets a book on the NY Times best-seller list is a combination of things shrouded in some obscurity. But in the end it is SALES. given that it's a best-seller list:)

Anyway, the discussion came up in my writers group and one of the members has a "friend" who is a recent NY Times Bestselling author. She told him that to get on the Bestseller list the title is probably averaging about 5000 sales a week.

I'm not saying that's true or false, I'm just wondering if someone can confirm? I know there are a few NYT Bestsellers here on AW. Does she mean that getting on the NYT Best seller list means you likely had at least those kinds of sales? Or does she mean once you get on the list your sales are probably about 5000 a week?

I'm only asking out of curiosity. The person he spoke to is very much on the NYT bestseller list, so I'm sure she knows what she's talking about, but the way he relayed the conversation the author could have meant it either way.
 
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gothicangel

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Well, it would depend on the week.

Some weeks 5,000 might get you at the top end, but Christmas week you would be lucky to chart.
 
Old Hack

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Here's a link to my blog post about the New York Times bestseller who made her royalty statements public. She raised a few very interesting points.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Eddyz Aquila said:
That debunked the myth of NYT bestselling authors making millions of dollars. Only Meyer, Brown, Rowling and a couple others manage that amount...
Click to expand...

Quite a bunch of writers make that kind of money. If she complains less and writes more, this writer might well be one of them.

Few things are more meaningless that such royalty statements on a first novel that never made the top ten, that may be years away from being complete, and that, even has is, made a pretty darned good bit of money.

The NYT list isn't one thing, and isn't one position or one novel. It's far more complicated that this shows, and every writer out there would have been better off had she not posted her royalty statements.
 
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