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Originally Posted by Xanthe
Oprah says "I am reading XX now" and the Oprah-sheep immediately go out and buy XX. Voila! Instant bestseller. But how many of them actually read the book completely to the end and enjoy it?
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Wow, I didn't realize that Jonathan Franzen posts to MR!
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Originally Posted by Xanthe
A NYT book reviewer says "You MUST read this book" and all of those who follow the NYT Book Section rush out to buy it. Voila! Instant bestseller. But how many of them actually read the book completely to the end and enjoy it?
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Unfortunately for the reviewers, their readers are not mindless automatons who follow orders.
And really, there's no reason to be so patronizing of people who buy best-sellers. Unless you're reading
Kritik der reinen Vernunft for the 20th time and writing your own English translation, I doubt your tastes are anywhere near as impressive as you think they are. Sorry.
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Originally Posted by Xanthe
If I want to find the ebooks that people ACTUALLY are reading though, I'll check the listings on the Dark Net.
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Yeah, that doesn't tell you anything about readership rates either. Downloading a book for free requires minimal effort, thus produces minimal commitment, thus zero necessity on the part of the reader to finish it. High download/seed/etc rates are just another mark of popularity.