The New York Times Best Seller list

The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered

the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United
States.[1][2] Published weekly in The New York Times
Book Review,[1] the best-seller list has been published in
the Times since October 12, 1931.[1]

in an attempt to better reect what is purchased by individual buyers. Some books are agged with a dagger
indicating that a signicant number of bulk orders had
been received by retail bookstores.[8] The Times reported
in 2013 that we [generally do not] track the sales of classic literature, and thus, for example, new translations
of Dantes Inferno would not be found on the bestseller
list.[9]

History

The exact method for compiling the data obtained from

the booksellers is classied as a trade secret.[5] Book Review sta editor Gregory Cowles explained the method
is a secret both to protect our product and to make sure
people can't try to rig the system. Even in the Book
Review itself, we don't know (the news surveys departments) precise methods.[6] In 1992, the survey encompassed over 3,000 bookstores as well as representative
wholesalers with more than 28,000 other retail outlets,
including variety stores and supermarkets.[5] By 2004,
the number was 4,000 bookstores as well as an unstated
number of wholesalers.[4] Data is adjusted to give more
weight to independent book stores, which are underrepresented in the sample.[4]

Although the rst best seller list in America was published in 1895, in The Bookman, a best seller list was
not published in The New York Times until 36 years later
with little fanfare on October 12, 1931.[3][4] It consisted
of ve ction and four non-ction books for New York
City only.[4] The following month the list was expanded to
eight cities, with a separate list published for each city.[4]
By the early 1940s, fourteen city-lists were included. A
national list was created on April 9, 1942, in The New
York Times Book Review (Sundays) as a supplement to the
regular city lists (Monday edition).[4] The national list was
ranked according to how many times the book appeared
in the city lists.[4] A few years later, the city lists were
eliminated entirely leaving only the national ranking list,
it was compiled according to reports from leading booksellers in 22 cities.[4] This methodology of ranking by
bookseller sales gures remains to this day although the
exact data compilation process is a trade secret and has
evolved over time.[5]

The lists are divided among ction and non-ction, print

and e-book, paperback and hardcover; each list contains
15 to 20 titles. Expanded lists that show additional titles are available online through the Book Review website. The lists have been subdivided several times. Advice, How-To, and Miscellaneous debuted as a list of
ve on January 1, 1984. It was created because advice
best-sellers were sometimes crowding the general nonction list.[10] Its inaugural number one bestseller, The
Body Principal by Victoria Principal, had been number 10
and number 12 on the non-ction lists for the two preceding weeks.[11][12] In July 2000, the Childrens Best Sellers was created after the Harry Potter series had stayed
in the top spots on the ction list for an extended period of
time.[13] The childrens list was printed monthly until Feb.
13, 2011, when it was changed to once an issue (weekly).
In September 2007, the paperback ction list was divided
into trade and mass-market sections, in order to give
more visibility to the trade paperbacks that were more
often reviewed by the newspaper itself.[14] In November
2010, The New York Times announced it would be tracking e-book best-seller lists in ction and nonction starting in early 2011.[15] RoyaltyShare, a San Diego-based
company that tracks data and aggregates sales information for publishers, will ... provide [e-book] data.[15] The
two new e-book lists were rst published with the February 13, 2011, issue, the rst tracks combined print and e-

By the 1950s, the Times list had become the leading

best seller list for book professionals to monitor, along
with Publishers Weekly.[4] In the 1960s and 70s, mallbased chain bookstores B. Dalton, Crown Books, and
Waldenbooks came to the forefront with a business model
of selling newly published (frontline) titles, in particular
mass-market appeal best-sellers, thus placing increased
emphasis on the New York Times list for book readers and
book sellers.[4]

Composition

The list is composed by the editors of the News Surveys

department, not by The New York Times Book Review department, where it is published.[6] It is based on weekly
sales reports obtained from selected samples of independent and chain bookstores and wholesalers throughout
the United States.[6] The sales gures are widely believed
to represent books that have actually been sold at retail,
rather than wholesale,[7] as the Times surveys booksellers
1

book sales, the second tracks e-book sales only (both lists
are further sub-divided into Fiction and Non-ction). In
addition a third new list was published on the web only,
which tracks combined print sales (hardcover and paperback) in ction and nonction. In December 16, 2012,
the childrens chapter books list was divided into two new
lists: middle-grade (ages 812) and young adult (age 12
18), both which include sales across all platforms (hard,
paper and e-book).

Criticisms

The list has been criticized by authors, publishers, book

industry executives, and others for not providing an accurate accounting of true best-seller status.[4] These criticisms have been ongoing ever since the list originated.[4]
A book industry report in the 1940s found that best-seller
lists were a poor indicator of sales, since they were based
on misleading data and were only measuring fast sales
(see fast sale criticism below).[4] A 2004 report quoted
a senior book marketing executive who said the rankings
were smoke and mirrors"; while a report in Book History found that many professionals in the book industry
scoed at the notion that the lists are accurate.[4]
Specic criticisms include:
Fast sales.[4][16] A book that never makes the list can
actually outsell books on the best-seller list. This is
because the best-seller list reects sales in a given
week, not total sales. Thus, one book may sell heavily in a given week, making the list, while another
may sell at a slower pace, never making the list, but
selling more copies over time.
Double counting. By including wholesalers in the
polls along with retail bookstores, books may be
double-counted.[4] Wholesalers report how much
they sell to retailers, and retailers report how much
they sell to customers, thus there can be overlap with
the same reported books being sold twice within a
given time frame. In addition, retailers may return
books to wholesalers months later if they never sell,
thus resulting in a sale"'s being reported that never
came to fruition. For example mass-market paperbacks can see as high as 40% return rates from the
retailer back to the wholesaler.[4]
Manipulation by authors and publishers.[4] Author
Jacqueline Susann (Valley of the Dolls) attempted
to butter-up Times-reporting booksellers and personally bought large quantities of her own book.[4]
Author Wayne Dyer (Your Erroneous Zones) purchased thousands of copies of his own book.[4]
Al Neuharth (Confessions of an S. O. B.), former head of Gannett Company, had his Gannett
Foundation buy two thousand copies of his own
autobiography.[4] In 1995, authors Michael Treacy

CRITICISMS

and Fred Wiersema spent $200,000 to buy ten thousand copies of The Discipline of Market Leaders
from dozens of bookstores.[4] Although they denied
any wrongdoing, the book spent 15 weeks on the list.
As a result of this scandal the Times began placing a
dagger symbol next to any title for which bookstores
reported bulk orders.[4] However daggers do not always appear; for example Tony Hsieh's Delivering
Happiness was known to have been manipulated
with bulk orders but didn't have a dagger.[17] Companies that contract with authors to manipulate the
bestseller list through bestseller campaigns include
ResultSource.[18]
Manipulation by retailers and wholesalers.[4] It happens with regularity that wholesalers and retailers
deliberately or inadvertently manipulate the sales
data they report to the Times.[4] Since being on
the Times best-seller list increases the sales of a
book, bookstores and wholesalers may report a book
is a best-seller before it actually is one, in order
that it might later become a legitimate best-seller
through increased sales due to its inclusion on the
best-seller list,[4] leading to the best-seller lists becoming a self-fullling prophecy for the booksellers.
Leading data collection. The Times provides booksellers with a form containing a list of books it believes might be bestsellers, to check o, with an
alternative Other column to ll in manually.[4]
Its been criticized as a leading technique to create
a best-seller list based on books the Times thinks
might be included.[4] One bookseller compared it to
a voting card in which two options for President are
provided: Bill Clinton and Other.[4]
Self-fullling. Once a book makes it onto the list it
is heavily marketed as a best-seller, purchased by
readers who seek out best-sellers, given preferential
treatment by retailers, online and oine, who create special best-seller categories including special instore placement and price discounts, and is carried
by retailers that generally don't carry other books
(e.g., supermarkets).[4] Thus, the list can become
self-fullling in determining which books have high
sales and remain on the list.[4]
Conicts of interest. Due to high nancial impact of
making the list, since the 1970s publishers have created escalator clauses for major authors stipulating
that if a book makes the list the author will receive
extra money, based on where it ranks and for how
long.[4] Authors may also be able to charge higher
speaking fees for the status of being a best-seller.[4]
As Book History said, With so much at stake then,
it is no wonder that enormous marketing eort goes
into getting a book access to this major marketing
tool.[4]

Controversies

In 1983, author William Peter Blatty sued The New York

Times for $6 million, claiming that his latest book, Legion
(lmed as The Exorcist III), had not been included in the
list due to either negligence or intentional falsehood, saying it should have been included due to high sales.[4] The
Times countered that the list was not mathematically objective but rather was editorial content and thus protected
under the Constitution as free speech. Blatty appealed it
to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.
Thus, the lower court ruling stood that the list is editorial
content, not objective factual content, so the Times had
the right to exclude books from the list.[4]
In 1995, Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema, the authors
of a book called The Discipline of Market Leaders, colluded to manipulate their book onto the best seller charts.
The authors allegedly purchased over 10,000 copies of
their own book in small and strategically placed orders
at bookstores whose sales are reported to Bookscan. Because of the benets of making The New York Times Best
Seller list (speaking engagements, more book deals, and
consulting) the authors felt that buying their own work
was an investment that would pay for itself. The book
climbed to No. 4 on the list where it sat for 15 weeks;
it also peaked at No. 1 on the BusinessWeek best seller
list. Since such lists hold the power of cumulative advantage, chart success often begets more chart success.
Although such eorts are not illegal, publishers consider
them unethical.[19]

fore Leapfrogging was released, ResultSource would purchase the books on my behalf using their tried-and-true
formula. Three thousand books sold would get me on The
Wall Street Journal bestseller list. Eleven thousand would
secure a spot on the biggest prize of them all, The New
York Times list. [25]
In 2014, the Los Angeles Times published a story titled
Can bestseller lists be bought?"[26][27] It describes how
author and pastor Mark Driscoll contracted the company
ResultSource to place his book Real Marriage (2012) on
The New York Times Best Seller list for a $200,000 fee.
The contract was for ResultSource to conduct a bestseller campaign for your book, 'Real Marriage' on the
week of January 2, 2012. The bestseller campaign is intended to place 'Real Marriage' on the New York Times
bestseller list for the Advice How-to list. To achieve this,
the contract stated that RSI will be purchasing at least
11,000 total orders in one week. This took place, and
the book successfully reached No.1 on the hardcover advice bestseller list on January 22, 2014.[26]

5 Studies

A Stanford Business School analysis suggests that the

majority of book buyers seem to use the Times ' list as a
signal of whats worth reading.[28] The study concluded
that lesser-known writers get the biggest benet from being on the list, while perennial best-selling authors, such
as John Grisham or Danielle Steel, see no benet of ad[28]
In 1999, Amazon.com announced a 50 percent decrease ditional sales.
in price for books on the Best Seller List to beat its competition, Barnes & Noble.[20] After a legal dispute between Amazon and The New York Times, Amazon was 6 See also
permitted to keep using the list on condition that it displayed it in alphabetical rather than numerical order.[21]
Bestseller
Since 2010 (or earlier), this is no longer the case; Ama Lists of The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers
zon now displays the best-seller list in order of best selling
titles rst.[22]
Lists of The New York Times Non-Fiction Best SellIn 2013, Forbes published a story titled Heres How You
ers
Buy Your Way Onto The New York Times Bestsellers
Lists of The New York Times Manga Best Sellers
List. [23] The article discusses how ResultSource, a San
Diego-based marketing consultancy, specializes in ensur Oprahs Book Club
ing books make a bestseller list, even guaranteeing a No.
1 spot for those willing to pay enough. The New York
Publishers Weekly lists of bestselling novels in the
Times was informed of this practice and responded: The
United States
New York Times comprehensively tracks and tabulates the
weekly unit sales of all titles reported by book retailers as
their general interest bestsellers. We will not comment
beyond our methodology on the other questions. The 7 References
New York Times did not alert its readers to this, unlike The
Wall Street Journal, which admitted that books had landed [1] John Bear, The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York
on its bestseller list due to ResultSources campaign.[24]
Times bestsellers since the rst list, 50 years ago, Berkeley:
Soren Kaplan, the source who admitted he had paid ReTen Speed Press, 1992.
sultSource to land his book, Leapfrogging, on The Wall
Street Journals bestseller list, revealed the methodology [2] Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA), Chairman, Subcommittee on
Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection,
on his blog; he posted: If I could obtain bulk orders be-

said the New York Times best-seller list is widely considered to be one of the most authoritative lists of which
books are selling the most in American bookstores during his Opening Statement for Hearing on H.R. 1858 on
June 15, 1999.
[3] The New York Times, October 12, 1931. 19
[4] Laura J. Miller (2000). The Best-Seller List as Marketing
Tool and Historical Fiction. In Ezra Greenspan (editor).
Book History. Volume Three. Penn State Press. pp. 286
304. ISBN 0271020504.
[5] Diamond, Edwin (1995). Behind the Times: Inside the
New New York Times. p. 364.
[6] Pierleoni, Allen (Jan 22, 2012). Best-sellers lists: How
they work and who they (mostly) work for. The Sacramento Bee.
[7] Blatty Sue Times on Best-Seller List, from The New
York Times, August 29, 1983.
[8] See table key in any issue from 2011.

EXTERNAL LINKS

[22] New York Times Bestseller list at Amazon.com.

[23] Je Bercovici (February 22, 2013). Heres How You Buy
Your Way Onto The New York Times Bestsellers List.
Forbes. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
[24] Jerey A. Trachtenberg (February 22, 2013). The Mystery of the Book Sales Spike. The Wall Street Journal.
Retrieved March 19, 2014.
[25] Soren Kaplan (February 2013). Debunking the Bestseller. Blog. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
[26] Carolyn Kellogg (March 6, 2014). Can bestseller lists be
bought?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
[27] Julia Fleischaker (March 7, 2014). Got $200,000? Congratulations, you're a bestselling author.. Melville House
Publishing. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
[28] Readers Tap Best-Seller List for New Authors. Stanford Business Magazine. February 2005. Archived from
the original on 20 September 2006. Retrieved December 2006. See also Alan T. Sorensen, Bestseller Lists and
Product Variety: The Case of Book Sales, May 2004.

[9] Gregory Cowles (June 2, 2013). Inside the List. The

New York Times Book Review. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
[10] TBR: Inside the list. The New York Times. February 24,
2008. p. BR26.
[11] The New York Times Book Review Best Sellers. The
New York Times. January 1, 1984. p. BR28.
[12] Best Sellers. The New York Times. December 25, 1983.
p. BR13.
[13] Bestseller Math. riverdeep.net. November 12, 2001.
[14] Up Front. The New York Times Book Review.
September 23, 2007. p. 4. it gives more emphasis on
the literary novels and short-story collections reviewed so
often in our pages
[15] Bosman, Julie (November 10, 2010). "Times Will Rank
E-Book Best Sellers. The New York Times.
[16] J. E. Fishman, 12 Common Misperceptions About Book
Publishing, The Nervous Breakdown, December 1, 2010.
Retrieved July 27, 2011.
[17] Je Bercovici (February 22, 2013). Heres How You Buy
Your Way Onto The New York Times Bestsellers List.
Forbes. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
[18] Jerey A. Trachtenberg (February 22, 2013). The Mystery of the Book Sales Spike. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
[19] Did Dirty Tricks Create a Best-Seller?". Stern, Willy.
August 1995. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
[20] Who owns the New York Times bestseller list? , by Scott
Rosenberg, Salon.com, June 23, 1999
[21] Amazon.com and The New York Times Settle Legal Dispute Over Use of Times Best Sellers List, Business Wire,
August 9, 1999.

8 External links
The New York Times Best Seller List (current)
The New York Times Best Seller List (historical)
Previous ction #1 best sellers
Previous non-ction #1 best sellers
Controversy regarding new childrens list

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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