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What Does a "Bestselling Book" Mean Anymore?
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In the shifting landscape of book publishing today, how helpful is the "bestselling book" stamp of approval? As authors face increasingly challenging obstacles to recognition (and sales), is bestseller status a shortcut to fame and fortune? Or is that prize even worth it?
Come along as we discuss:
- New York Times list is not just based on most copies sold.
- USA Today lists 150 titles without discrimination of type or category.
- Amazon's velocity-based algorithm is too easy to game.
- BookScan sales data tracks legitimate sales but is unavailable for most authors.
Bottom line: bestseller lists often reflect manufactured buzz rather than book quality or even highest sales. And many publishing professionals don't consider bestsellers to be the best books. So what are the alternatives to focusing on bestseller lists for authors?
Publishing Disrupted is at PublishingDisrupted.substack.com
Mick Silva is at MickSilvaEditing.substack.com
David Morris is at dvdmorris.substack.com and LakeDriveBooks.com
Chapters
1. What Does a "Bestselling Book" Mean Anymore? (00:00:00)
2. The "Christian-but-not-Religious" shift (00:02:48)
3. Getting specific about audience (00:06:42)
4. It's getting harder to scale (00:10:05)
5. What it costs to publish now (00:13:46)
6. If old publishing is dead, what now? (00:18:41)
7. Are bestseller lists helpful? (00:22:42)
8. What makes a "bestseller?" (00:26:10)
9. What's "Amazon bestseller" mean? (00:31:34)
10. Why are we chasing bestsellers? (00:35:22)
11. Books create buzz for good or ill (00:40:52)
12. Who to trust instead of list-makers (00:44:55)
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