We recently had a rousing discussion about bestseller lists, and we like to think our little effort influenced the Washington Post to dig deeper into this fascinating subject (we also like to think our constant nagging has lead to more people stopping for red lights). All of this learning and reading and, frankly, analysis has lead us to an unavoidable conclusion: they’re just making it up as they go along.
Reading industry professional comments about bestseller lists is a bit like watching a White House Press conference. Much is said, but you don’t actually get any juicy information. In both cases, you sense the fate of the world lies in the balance. Probably not so dire, but if we were receiving regular royalty statements, we’d probably race for the therapist’s couch after seeing this particular throwaway line:
Given the industry’s notoriously poor bookkeeping, it’s not surprising that, according to one insider, book publishers are willing to pay half a million dollars per year for BookScan.
- Making Books – The Bestseller Lists: Totting up book sales is not as simple as one, two, three.
