Quote:
Originally Posted by Dazrin
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Also, I love the acronym for Best Sellers lists. Hadn't seen them referred to that way before but it works in so many ways.
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The problem with that blanket characterization is that, while many (most?) bestsellers (single word, btw) are the product of front table payola and review hype, some get to be bestsellers the old-fashioned way. More, as the power of the BPHs continues to decline (and with it the power of both hype and payola), the bar for "bestsellerdom" will continue to lower and we're likely to see more worthy titles sneak onto the lists.
As pointed out by others here, annointing *all* popular titles as BS, aka, crap, is an elitist implication that only less than popular (e.g., litfic) titles are any good because the "idiot masses" can't appreciate quality.
Me, I don't read bestsellers as a class but I'm not about to condemn them as a class. Quite a few of my favorite books have managed to sneak onto the lists from time to time, after all.