KKR on why bestsellers aren't what they used to be

[fjtorres]

Nice and clear, as usual:
http://kriswrites.com/2016/03/02/bus...ther-thoughts/

However, the opening sentence of that paragraph is spot-on:

Bestseller lists are advertising tools. That’s all they are. Yes, they’re a “mark of distinction,” in that, by some measure, a lot of people bought a particular book. As Underwood also notes in his piece, the name-brand lists can all be manipulated and are, much to the frustration of those of us whose unacceptable books outsold books higher on the same list.

The real thrust of Underwood’s article is pretty simple: the proliferation of “bestsellers” has made the term meaningless.

Other indie writers have hit these Amazon and other company bestseller lists with hundreds of books sold or thousands of books sold. Many of my friends have hit the USA Today Bestseller list for a particular week because of their indie book sales. A few have hit The New York Times ebook list the same way, which I have to admit, is really impressive, given how hard the Times works to make sure no indie book, especially one that sells for less than $9.99, hits that list.

The problem, though, is what Underwood points to. Calling yourself a bestseller isn’t old-world special any more. Readers have no idea if a writer has hit the list with five sales or five thousand.

It’s taken some revision of thinking in my head to cope with this for me, personally. I missed the New York Times list several times in the 1990s with books that sold over 50,000 copies in a week. My first romance novel under Kristine Grayson, Utterly Charming, missed all the lists, including the USA Today list (which tracks actual sales as opposed to sales from “selected approved” channels) with first week sales of 30,000 copies—and I expected to miss the list then, because, in them thare days, 30,000 first-week sales of mass market paper was low. Not cancel-your-contract low, but romance low. For a brand new pen name, however, the sales were stellar, and we were all happy.

But those are the numbers I’m used to. Now, in the off-season (right now, for instance), I’ve seen big name writers hit the New York Times list with fewer than 10,000 sales in a week. I know indie writers who hit the USA Today list with 7,000 sales in a week.

It took a long time for me to wrap my head around the idea that mountains had become hills. Because of the proliferation of books that readers want to read, the bigger bestsellers sell fewer copies in their first week than they did twenty years ago.

Much more at the source.
(Math, too.)

[Atunah]

I have no clue who KKR is. But I did check out that suppose romance book under a pen name and just form my romance reader perspective and friends on goodreads and such, it wasn't really a romance. So that might have been the issue with the sales issue or whatever.

Are the best selling lists really this different today than they were before the self publisher came along? Weren't they always a list of not just sales but also placement bla bla. Even I knew that as a reader to be honest. Some buyers only get books here and there when they go to a big store, be it Sam's or Costco and if they see a best seller this or that, they might buy it. I don't really think that has changed much.

What has changed for me though is that the term "bestseller" has lost all its importance. So many self publishers put these box sets out now and hit a list and suddenly everyone in the kindle store is suddenly a best seller

I never cared before, I still don't care. I read what I want to read. I don't really give a fig how much it sells. Most of what sells in my favorite genre right now is not what I want to read anyway.

Bestseller lists like NYT and such still matter to those buying a handful of books a year. Those of us that read 100's of books a year already know what we like and most of us don't care about sales.

The amount of choices though is staggering today though.

I am just happy to be able to read what I like and although its still mostly trade stuff, I have found a few great self published authors. Sales as always are not a indicator or quality or what ones taste is like.

[Phogg]

I will agree with Atunah.

As a reader primarily of various types of genre fiction and history, best seller lists really never addressed too many books that I like. And even awards in those genres seldom went to authors I found appealing.

[fjtorres]

The real news in the deprecation of bestseller-dom is that more and more readers are spreading their money around so that even casual readers are looking beyond the big name authors to midlisters and to the backlist.

That kind of behavior change is long overdue and a welcome development.
Diversity in publishing needs diversity in buying.

Edit: ...and I don't mean diversity in the political sense but rather in its classical meaning of variety. If tradpub is to survive it needs to stop chasing blockbusters and get back to basics putting out a full range of good books and helping them find their natural audience.

[ebusinesstutor]

Originally Posted by Atunah

I have no clue who KKR is. But I did check out that suppose romance book under a pen name and just form my romance reader perspective and friends on goodreads and such, it wasn't really a romance. So that might have been the issue with the sales issue or whatever.

KKR (Kristine Katherine Rusch) is an excellent science fiction and fantasy writer. If you like scifi, check out her Retrieval Artist series (a real favourite of mine) and if you like fantasy, check out her Fey series.

She is also one of the most brilliant writers currently on the writing industry. She has published both traditionally and independently and has great insights into both and into what authors need to do today to be successful.

I follow her blog regularly and really enjoy her articles.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ebusinesstutor

KKR (Kristine Katherine Rusch) is an excellent science fiction and fantasy writer. If you like scifi, check out her Retrieval Artist series (a real favourite of mine) and if you like fantasy, check out her Fey series.

She is also one of the most brilliant writers currently on the writing industry. She has published both traditionally and independently and has great insights into both and into what authors need to do today to be successful.

I follow her blog regularly and really enjoy her articles.

Over decades, she has done every job in the business from editor to publisher and, of course, writer.

She and her husband, Dean Wesley Smith have hundreds of books to their credit and run workshops on the business side of writing and graciously offer most of their expertise for free online. Very useful for those of us interested in what really is going on in publishing.

Oh, and they are excellent writers.