Amazon Best Selling Author by selling 3 ebooks

[Dopedangel]

http://observer.com/2016/02/behind-t...and-5-minutes/

[DiapDealer]

This isn’t about how The New York Times list is biased (though it is). This isn’t about how authors buy their way onto various national best-seller lists by buying their own books in bulk (though they do). No, this is about ...

Why isn't it about those thing? Why single out one scammable (and heavily scammed) best-seller list while giving all others with the same faults a free pass? Sure you can do it with less money on Amazon, but that's hardly the point is it? Best-selling lists are scammed and manipulated--all of them.

[Cinisajoy]

DiapDealer,
The only problem is unless the customer is looking in that very small sub-category, that book will never be seen.
I have seen this scam before. Nothing newsworthy.

[DiapDealer]

Well that's what I meant. It's just as (un)newsworthy as any other bestseller list's faults. Their scammability is equally relevant or not.The scammability of Amazon's bestseller status is no more or less heinous than any of the others.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Well that's what I meant. It's just as (un)newsworthy as any other bestseller list's faults. Their scammability is equally relevant or not.The scammability of Amazon's bestseller status is no more or less heinous than any of the others.

There is one good thing about it. If I see Amazon best seller in the description, I know to avoid that book.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Why isn't it about those thing? Why single out one scammable (and heavily scammed) best-seller list while giving all others with the same faults a free pass? Sure you can do it with less money on Amazon, but that's hardly the point is it? Best-selling lists are scammed and manipulated--all of them.

The point that Amazon's rankings are much easier to game than the other ones mentioned is a fair one, I think. A book consisting simply of a picture of the author's foot and three sales would never make it to the NYT bestseller list.

Nothing is perfect, but that doesn't mean everything is equally bad.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

Nothing is perfect, but that doesn't mean everything is equally bad.

Not equally bad; equally meaningless. They're all rigged to a certain degree, so I fail to see the relevance of how easy one might be to rig compared to another. The fact that they're all consistently BEING rigged is the point in my eyes.

[Lynx-lynx]

Geez, I don't know about anyone else, but as soon as I see the words 'Best Seller' I tend to shy away. I'm not interested in reading a book/author because they have the words 'Best Seller' attributed to them, by any source!

[Katsunami]

So the category Transpersonal has no other books in it, or only books that sold less than three copies. Nice... I'm going to also find a category with no books, and put all of my old short stories in there

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

Geez, I don't know about anyone else, but as soon as I see the words 'Best Seller' I tend to shy away. I'm not interested in reading a book/author because they have the words 'Best Seller' attributed to them, by any source!

It is actually rare that I read a (non-PD) book that does NOT state "#1 New York Times Best Seller" or "#1 NYT Best Selling Author" on the cover...

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

..... It is actually rare that I read a (non-PD) book that does NOT state "#1 New York Times Best Seller" or "#1 NYT Best Selling Author" on the cover...

Hey, that may apply to some of the books I've got too!!

But, I don't think I notice it! I tend to block out 'advertising' stuff on a page, selective reading I suppose .....

[Cinisajoy]

I only discriminate against "#1 best seller at Amazon books".
Especially if it is the first line in the description.
Best selling author is a different story.
It is usually from the NYT best seller author comes "Newest Book here".

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Not equally bad; equally meaningless. They're all rigged to a certain degree, so I fail to see the relevance of how easy one might be to rig compared to another. The fact that they're all consistently BEING rigged is the point in my eyes.

If by rigged you mean every single ranking was achieved by gaming the system, then I'd agree. But I don't think that is the case. The bestseller lists are made up of some authors who achieved their place honestly, and some who achieved it by cheating. How many of each is affected by how easy it is to cheat.

I am not a #1 bestselling author, or an author at all, but I have a qualification which I gained honestly. Some others gained the same qualification by cheating. That doesn't make my qualification completely worthless, because it is not a trivial matter to cheat and most recipients gained it honestly, but its value is affected to some degree. If cheating was known to be common then it would be worth somewhat less. If it was so easy to cheat that anyone could get it with a few minutes work then the qualification would be worthless, even to those who gained it honestly.