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The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list ofbest-selling books in the United States.[1][2]The New York Times Book Review has published the list weekly since October 12, 1931.[1] In the 21st century, it has evolved into multiple lists, grouped by genre and format, including fiction and nonfiction, hardcover, paperback ande-books.
The list is based on a proprietary method that uses sales figures, other data and internal guidelines that are unpublished—how theTimes compiles the list is atrade secret.[3] In 1983, during a legal case in which theTimes was sued, theTimes argued that the list is not mathematically objective but rather an editorial product, an argument that prevailed in the courts.[4] In 2017, aTimes representative said that the goal was that the lists reflect authentic best sellers.[5] The list has been a source of controversy. When theTimes believes a book has reached the list in a suspicious way—such as through bulk purchases—the book's entry on the list is marked with adagger symbol (†).[6]
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 New York Times best-seller listThe first best-seller list was published with little fanfare for books sold in New York City only. |
The firstbest seller list in America was published in 1895, byThe Bookman. The New York Times did not publish its first best seller list until October 12, 1931, 36 years afterThe Bookman.[7][4]The NY Times listed five fiction and four nonfiction best selling books forNew York City only.[4] The next month, the list was expanded to eight cities, each with its own list.[4] By the early 1940s, fourteen city-lists were included. A national list was created on April 9, 1942, in the SundayNew York Times Book Review as a supplement to the Monday edition regular city lists.[4] The national list was ranked according to how many times the book appeared in the city lists.[4] Eventually the city lists were eliminated, leaving only the national ranking list, which was compiled according to "reports from leading booksellers in 22 cities".[4] Ranking by bookseller sales figures continues today, although the process has remained proprietary.[3]
By the 1950s,The Times's list had become the leading best-seller list for book professionals to monitor, along with that ofPublishers Weekly.[4] In the 1960s and 1970s, shopping-mall chain bookstoresB. Dalton,Crown Books, andWaldenbooks came to the forefront with a business model of selling newly published best-sellers with mass-market appeal. They used the best-selling status of titles to market the books and not just as a measure of sales, thus placing increased emphasis on theNew York Times list for book readers and book sellers.[4]
The list is compiled by the editors of the "News Surveys" department, not byThe New York Times Book Review department, where it is published.[8] It is based on weekly sales reports obtained from selected samples of independent and chain bookstores and wholesalers throughout the United States.[8] The sales figures are widely believed to represent books that have actually been sold at retail, rather than wholesale,[9] as theTimes surveys booksellers in an attempt to better reflect what is purchased by individual buyers. Some books are flagged with adagger indicating that a significant number of bulk orders had been received by retail bookstores.[10]
The New York Times reported in 2013 that "we [generally do not] track the sales of classic literature," and thus, for example, new translations ofDante'sInferno would not be found on the bestseller list.[11]
The exact method for compiling the data obtained from the booksellers is classified as atrade secret.[3] Book Review staff 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 department's) precise methods."[8] 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."[3] 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]
The lists are divided amongfiction andnonfiction, print and e-book, paperback and hardcover; each list contains 15 to 20 titles. The lists have been subdivided several times. "Advice, How-To, and Miscellaneous" debuted as a list of five on January 1, 1984. It was created because advice best-sellers were sometimes crowding the general nonfiction list.[12] Its inaugural number one bestseller,The Body Principal byVictoria Principal, had been number 10 and number 12 on the nonfiction lists for the two preceding weeks.[13][14] In July 2000, the "Children's Best Sellers" was created after theHarry Potter series had stayed in the top spots on the fiction list for an extended period of time.[15][16] The children's list was printed monthly until February 13, 2011, when it was changed to once an issue (weekly). In September 2007, the paperback fiction 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.[17] In November 2010,The New York Times announced it would be trackinge-book best-seller lists in fiction and nonfiction starting in early 2011.[18] "RoyaltyShare, a San Diego–based company that tracks data and aggregates sales information for publishers, will ... provide [e-book] data".[18] The two new e-book lists were first published with the February 13, 2011, issue, the first tracks combined print and e-book sales, the second tracks e-book sales only (both lists are further sub-divided into Fiction and Nonfiction). In addition a third new list was published on the web only, which tracks combined print sales (hardcover and paperback) in fiction and nonfiction. On December 16, 2012, the children's chapter books list was divided into two new lists: middle-grade (ages 8–12) and young adult (age 12–18), both which include sales across all platforms (hard, paper and e-book).
According to an EPJ Data Science study that used big data to analyze everyNew York Times bestselling book from 2008 to 2016, of the 100,000 new, hardcover print books published each year, fewer than 500 make it on toThe New York Times Best Seller list (0.5 percent). Many novels (26 percent) appear on the list for only one week. To make the list, it is estimated that novels sell from 1,000 to 10,000 copies per week, depending on competition. Median sales fluctuate between 4,000 and 8,000 in fiction, and 2,000–6,000 in nonfiction. The majority ofNew York Times bestselling books sell from 10,000 to 100,000 copies in their first year.[19][20]
During the period studied (August 6, 2008, to March 10, 2016), Dan Brown's bookThe Lost Symbol held the record with 3 million copies sold in one year followed byThe Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest byStieg Larsson andGo Set a Watchman byHarper Lee which sold 1.6 million copies each. In nonfiction, more than half of the hardcover books that make the list are in the biography category. The autobiography of George W. Bush,Decision Points, sold the most copies in one year followed by the biographySteve Jobs byWalter Isaacson.[19]
The list has been criticized by authors, publishers, book industry executives, and others for not providing an accurate accounting of true best-seller status. These criticisms have been ongoing ever since the list originated. 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. A 2004 report quoted a senior book marketing executive who said the rankings were "smoke and mirrors"; while a report inBook History found that many professionals in the book industry "scoffed at the notion that the lists are accurate".[4]
Specific criticisms include:
In 1983, authorWilliam Peter Blatty suedThe New York Times for $6 million, claiming that his book,Legion filmed asThe 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. TheTimes countered that the list was not mathematically objective but rather was an editorial product and thus protected under theConstitution 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 theTimes had the legal right to exclude the book from the list.[4]
In 1995, Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema, the authors of a book calledThe 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 toBookScan. Because of the benefits of makingThe 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 theBusinessWeek best seller list. Since such lists hold the power ofcumulative advantage, chart success often begets more chart success. Although such efforts are not illegal, publishers consider them unethical.[27]
In 1999,Amazon.com announced a 50% decrease in price for books on the Best Seller List to beat its competition,Barnes & Noble.[28] After a legal dispute between Amazon andThe New York Times, Amazon was permitted to keep using the list on condition that it displayed it in alphabetical rather than numerical order.[29] By 2010, this was no longer the case; Amazon now displays the best-seller list in order of best-selling titles first.[30]
In 2013,Forbes published a story titled "Here's How You Buy Your Way OntoThe New York Times Bestsellers List."[31] The article discusses howResultSource, a San Diego–based marketing consultancy, specializes in ensuring books make a bestseller list, even guaranteeing a No. 1 spot for those willing to pay enough.The New York Times was informed of this practice and responded: "The 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 New York Times did not alert its readers to this, unlikeThe Wall Street Journal, which admitted that books had landed on its bestseller list due to ResultSource's campaign.[32] Soren Kaplan, the source who admitted he had paid ResultSource to land his book,Leapfrogging, onThe Wall Street Journal's bestseller list, revealed the methodology on his blog; he posted: "If I could obtain bulk orders beforeLeapfrogging was released, ResultSource would purchase the books on my behalf using their tried-and-true formula. Three thousand books sold would get me onThe Wall Street Journal bestseller list. Eleven thousand would secure a spot on the biggest prize of them all,The New York Times list."[33]
In 2014, theLos Angeles Times published a story titled "Can bestseller lists be bought?"[34] It describes how author and pastorMark Driscoll contracted the company ResultSource to place his bookReal Marriage (2012) onThe 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 placeReal Marriage onThe 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.[34]
In July 2015,Ted Cruz's bookA Time For Truth was excluded from the list because the "overwhelming preponderance of evidence was that sales [of Cruz's book] were limited to strategic bulk purchases" to artificially increase sales and entry onto the list. In response, Cruz called theTimes "a liar" and demanded an apology.[35] TheTimes said it stood by its statement and evidence of manipulation.
In August 2017, a young adult fiction book,Handbook for Mortals by previously unpublished author Lani Sarem was removed from the list, where it was initially in the No. 1 spot. According to a statement issued by theTimes, "after investigating the inconsistencies in the most recent reporting cycle, we decided that the sales forHandbook for Mortals did not meet our criteria for inclusion. We've issued an updated 'Young Adult Hardcover' list for September 3, 2017 which does not include that title."[36] It was uncovered, by author Phil Stamper, that there had been unusual bulk ordering patterns which inflated the number of sales.[37] The book is published by GeekNation, an entertainment website based in Los Angeles.[36] The book was originally written as a script, and was rewritten as a novel in an attempt to launch a film franchise.[38][39]
In August 2017, conservative publisherRegnery Publishing said it would no longer allow its writers to claim to be "New York Times best-selling authors" due to its belief that theTimes favors liberal books on the list. TheTimes responded that the political views of authors have no bearing on the list and noted conservative authors routinely rank highly on the list. TheAssociated Press noted theTimes is a frequent target of conservatives and Republicans.[40]The Washington Post called Regnery's ban a "stunt" designed to increase sales, "What better way to sell a book to a conservative audience than to promote the idea that theNew York Times doesn't like it?" ThePost compared the list to best seller lists fromPublishers Weekly looking for bias but could not find anything convincing.[41]
In February 2018, theToronto Star published a story by books editor Deborah Dundas who found that the best-selling book12 Rules for Life byJordan Peterson, who toppedPublishers Weekly chart list, did not even chart onThe New York Times bestsellers list, without reliable answers from theNew York Times. TheTimes stated it was not counted because it was published by a Canadian company.[42] According toRandom House Canada, the book was handled properly for the U.S. market.[43][44] American conservative commentatorDennis Prager wrote an article forNational Review titled "The Times Best-Seller List: Another Reason Americans Don't Trust the Media" in which he contends that the issue with Peterson's book, as well hisThe Rational Bible: Exodus, is their conservative context and the lack of inclusion is the American mainstream media's manipulation.[45] TheTimes denied any bias.[46]
In 2019, the release ofDonald Trump Jr.'s bookTriggered was shown to have only reached the best-seller list through approximately $100,000 in behind-the-scenes bulk purchases meant to pump up its sales numbers illegitimately.[47]Vanity Fair reported in October 2020 that this sort of gaming of the system has been a common practice among American conservative political figures, and has also included the use of political campaign funds to purchase the books in bulk in order to boost their rank on the list.[48]
AStanford Graduate School of Business analysis suggests that the "majority of book buyers seem to use theTimes' list as a signal of what's worth reading".[49] The study concluded that lesser-known writers get the biggest benefit from being on the list, while perennial best-selling authors, such asJohn Grisham orDanielle Steel, see no benefit of additional sales.[49]
it gives more emphasis on the literary novels and short-story collections reviewed so often in our pages
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