Getting on a bestseller list can increase your book sales. It lets you call yourself a bestseller and walk tall with your shoulders back. You can add that accolade to your resume or book cover. And of course, get writing your next book, since your first one was a hit. Truth is to get on a bestsellers list can be hard work.
Four Bestsellers Lists
How do you get on a bestseller list and what does it all mean, anyway? Let’s look at four bestseller lists.
First off, the time frame for a bestseller list is short, a week. You could sell a lot of books in one week, and make a list and never sell another book. Another author could sell a couple of thousand books each week for ten years, and never make a bestseller list. Food for thought as we look at four lists and what it takes to make it.
This list is created by a team at the New York Times, and although they do use book sales as one factor, they use their own secret system to make the decisions. It is not an objective list, but rather put together by an editorial team who likely has a lot of discretion. Because number of books sold is a factor, it might be possible to buy enough of your own books to make the list. That said, authors who are caught trying to manipulate the list get a mark by the book’s entry, a small dagger symbol.
The team does send out requests for information from bookstores, asking for sales numbers which they then tabulate and add into the secret formula.
Rumour is that you need to sell up to 10,000 copies in one week to make the list, although sometimes that number can be lower.
The New York Times bestseller list is a bit of a controversy. But with about 15 million weekly readers, no one can doubt it’s a powerful way to get your book in front of a mass audience.
USA Today ranks books on sales. There doesn’t seem to be any secret formula here. Only the books that sell the most get a ranking on the list each week.
Here is what is important:
- Sell at least 6000 books in one week in the United States,
- Don’t sell more than 500 of those books through Amazon, and
- You can’t give it away.
Who reads USA today? Approximately two and a half million Americans.
Getting on this list is more straightforward than getting on the NY Times list, but not easy. Selling 6,000 books in one week is a rare feat and many authors don’t sell that many in a year. Prepare to do your marketing homework, if you want on this list.
Publishers Weekly is the gold standard of bestseller lists. It doesn’t have secret formulas, and it isn’t a newspaper with books as a section. Publishers Weekly is about books, all about books. And a great place if you are an author, but that is another story.
Publishers Weekly gets its data from BookScan, a service of Nielsen that lets’ publishers know how they stack against the competition. BookScan gets its data from the sales of printed books in the United States, although they don’t count every single book sold, as some books are sold through tiny independent book stores that are not on the BookScan radar. Most independent book stores are though.
That’s it. Sell books. Sell lots of books. Their audience is smaller than the previous two lists, with about 68,000 readers. Getting recognized by Publishers Weekly would be something to be so proud of, even if they don’t have the readership of the other two. Plus, their readers are keen readers – publishers, other reviewers, journalists, librarians, wholesalers, bookstores, educators, agents. Being on that list could get you noticed by others who have a say in what gets media attention and shelf space in the stores.
You have heard of the Amazon bestseller list. You know how in high school, the best kid for student council didn’t always get voted in. Sometimes, it was the popular kid. The one who could convince everyone else to vote for them. That’s kind of how the Amazon bestsellers work.
To be a bestseller on Amazon, choose a category that has low sales. Then, ask all your friends, family, and followers, to buy your book at the same time. Woo hoo! You will shoot up to top of the list and get that bestseller banner. You could sell as few as a dozen books and make it to the top if you choose your categories well.
Final Thoughts
I am not here to say yea or nay to any bestseller list. And they are far from perfect. Many excellent books never make it for some reason or another, even when they have good sales. Some books that make it, are questionable.
I want you to know what each list means and what it takes to top it. The rest is up to you. I will say this though. If you hit the bestseller list, don’t sit on your laurels. Use that win to propel the promotion of your book to new heights. Get more media and use it to spread the word.
If you would like more help promoting your book, join Author Nation, and get all the resources we have to support your success. In fact, we have an awesome promotion checklist for you.
– Keep writing, keep promoting.
Melody Ann
Author Nation is your go-to resource for becoming a successful nonfiction author, from planning to promotion and everything in between. Download the resource for the stage you are in.
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