A World Without Bestseller Lists

That's as moronic as anything I've ever read, and completely impossible to accomplish.

Unless you're a sheep, you'll have no problem ignoring bestsellers list and looking for other writers to your heart's content, though too many think something is crud just because it is a bestseller.

But there is no way to do away with bestseller lists unless you magically take away the power of counting. Remove all math from the world, and bestseller lists will go away. Keep math, and people will count how many copies of a book has sold, and they will let it be known.

It's the hurfington post...

But the whole idea of eliminating any source that promotes reading, such as best seller lists, is idiotic. And to say word of mouth is somehow better... Does he not believe that a best seller list might have sparked some of that word of mouth? The more sources the better.

Um, can I write an article for them insisting it'd be a better world without the calendar? How well does that market pay for nonsense? I mean, after all, a day is just a day. Especially days of the week. How silly. What is a "week" after all? It has no astronomical relevance. Down with the week!

You know, sometimes I come across books I would never have even picked up because I've seen them on lists and wondered what they were because I had never heard of them

Jamesaritchie said:

That's as moronic as anything I've ever read, and completely impossible to accomplish.

Unless you're a sheep, you'll have no problem ignoring bestsellers list and looking for other writers to your heart's content, though too many think something is crud just because it is a bestseller.

But there is no way to do away with bestseller lists unless you magically take away the power of counting. Remove all math from the world, and bestseller lists will go away. Keep math, and people will count how many copies of a book has sold, and they will let it be known.

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This pretty much sums it up.

lol @ this thread.

Jamesaritchie said:

Unless you're a sheep, you'll have no problem ignoring bestsellers list and looking for other writers to your heart's content, though too many think something is crud just because it is a bestseller.

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You're basically proving his point.

If bestseller lists are irrelevant to readers, then why are they shoved down readers' throats? Why are they printed in literary review journals? Why are said journals devoting more space to the lists and less space to actual analysis and review? Why is sales rank such an integral part of how Amazon recommends books to readers? What do sales, numbers, rankings, and lists have to do with whether a reader would or would not enjoy a book?

Adler says:

And perhaps, like Don Quixote, I am fighting the windmills, but there are many of us around who passionately love books, great stories, wonderful writing, and whose lives have been enriched by being stimulated, inspired and informed by such stellar works of the imagination.

For readers like us, the best-seller lists are increasingly irrelevant, and they may actually be a deterrent in our never-ending search for great new books to enhance our lives.


Eliminating them entirely might not sit well for authors who have been branded into popularity and those who publish them, but the elitism of market manipulation through such lists does not, in the opinion of this dedicated reader, serve us as well as they did in bygone days.

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He's absolutely right, especially on the bolded point. Increasingly, fiction chases the bestseller lists. Publishers are taking fewer risks and placing their eggs in fewer baskets, trying to produce as many bestsellers as possible. We've seen it happen with the music and film industries--publishing is little different.

Bestseller lists are largely worthless to readers. They're meant for those in the business of making money off books--publishers, booksellers, agents, editors, writers.

Why they're foisted on readers is a very good question.

As a reader I don't consider bestsellers irrelevant because I look to them to see what is new and what's popular at the minute just as I look to the Top 10 films on imdb in the UK and the Top 40 music chart. I also like to look at what's bestselling in particular genres I like to see if I want any of the books and I find other books through recommendations on the bestselling books pages.

There is a legitimate point to be made here.

Which books are the ones most likely to make it onto the bestseller lists, at least initially?

The ones that have the most money, hype, etc behind them.

Then, once they're on the bestseller lists, they get what essentially amounts to a lot of free publicity.

This publicity helps them stay on the bestseller lists.

Is this going to change? No. But does this kind of a system increase the odds that a lot of very good novels that for whatever reason don't have as much money behind them might get overlooked?

I think it does.

In ideal circumstances, yes, the market will reward those who produce the best products at competitive prices.

In practice, there are a lot of books that get published. Which means anything that helps a book stand out from the rest is going to help sales, and skew the odds in the book's favor.

Of course there are exceptions. But there are always exceptions to any rule.

I can't remember the last time I looked at a bestseller list in order to find something to read. I might look to see who's selling but as I work in a library, I've got a pretty good idea what's hot right now.

The lists have always given me a bit of the nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd feeling. I get the vibe some people look to see what's popular so they can buy that book and be part of the crowd.

Probably crap. Just a feeling I get.

Twitter is my go-to source for finding books. I don't look at the bestseller lists at all.

From the retail side of things, I imagine the bestseller lists are quite useful to bookstores. The retail (non-book) store I work for has several different bestseller lists that we use internally, everything from company-wide sellers to what sold best in our store last month. We use them for all kinds of things, such as display set ups and what to tell customers about when they walk in.

As a reader, I rarely pick up things that make the USA or NYT lists. They just don't often match my tastes. But I understand how they're useful from a marketing and retail perspective.

I like to peruse the lists and figure out why the books that are selling are selling. Though her great book The Bestseller is a couple decades old now, Olivia Goldsmith still nails the categories of books that routinely make BS lists (working from memory, so I hope I get her terminology right):

Pinks (women's fic, romance)

Dicks (guy fic, like military/high tech/espionage thrillers)

Uh-Ohs (suspense, thrillers, mysteries)

Hots (not erotica, but books that depended on timeliness and a broad appeal, often surprise hits. She called Michael Crichton the only author who specialized in Hots.)

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At the moment, I find "mommy" porn or erotica the most interesting trend. In that, I'd include current NYT bestsellers the Fifty Shades trilogy, The Marriage Bargain, On the Island, and Bared to You.

If something on the list looks tasty, I'll check it out online, at Zon and GoodReads. But I probably find most of my to-read list from hearing about a book on the radio, browsing stores, or schmoozing around on GR.

Get rid of BS lists? Meh, why? If you don't like 'em, don't look at 'em. If they cease to serve a marketing purpose, the market will stop compiling them.

People love lists and prizes. They'll never go away.

KTC said:

Twitter is my go-to source for finding books. I don't look at the bestseller lists at all.

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Could you explain this please? I've been on twitter for several years and still haven't figured out how to make it meaningful for me.

How do you use it to find books you'd like to read?