Bestselling sci-fi books

[jbcohen]

Can anyone tell me where I can find a list of the best selling sci-fi books?

[mikeayers]

maybe: http://www.google.com/search?q=best+...g+sci-fi+books

[steven522]

Best selling for this week or month?
You can check the NY Times listings or the Amazon listings.

For all-time?
Might be a little harder to pin down.

[musicman2523]

save some money..............go to smashwords or obooks and download "The Unearthing"

[jbcohen]

each week, I have seen the info at google thanks for that.

[charlesatan]

Are you looking for individual novels or series or some combination?

For example, the entire Star Wars books as a whole is arguably one of the best-selling franchises. The individual novels, on the other hand, still sell very good (enough to get on the NY Times Best-Seller lists), but perhaps not as a lot as some classics (not that a lot of SF classics sell very well).

If you want individual titles, I'd say Ender's Game and Dune are probably one of the best-sellers.

If you want a modern best-seller count, I'd check the USA Today's List (http://books.usatoday.com/list/index?f=10,0,122). Why USA Today? Less editorializing on the best-seller list compared to the widely popular NY Times. (More on their metrics at http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/b...oks-list_n.htm).

Right now, if you discount the fantasy titles, it's currently Farenheit 451 and Ender's Game. (Interesting to note both are fix-up novels.)

[applesauce]

So let me understand paranormal romances are under the sci fi / fantasy banner. For heavens sake half the list is full of it

Please I didnt ask for whining angst.

applesauce

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by charlesatan

If you want individual titles, I'd say Ender's Game and Dune are probably one of the best-sellers.

According to Wiki, Dune is the best-selling SF novel of all time.

[Quexos]

No wonder, there are so many different books on Dune that even if each sells only a little, the total amount of sales must be significant.

Originally Posted by HarryT

According to Wiki, Dune is the best-selling SF novel of all time.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Quexos

No wonder, there are so many different books on Dune that even if each sells only a little, the total amount of sales must be significant.

No, it's referring only to the original novel, not the sequels.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by HarryT

No, it's referring only to the original novel, not the sequels.

Most of those stats depend on how you define things. For example, most of the books prior to the 1980's first appeared as a serial in magazines (that is how I first read Zelazny's Amber series), so shouldn't magazine sales be included?

Asimov's original Foundation trilogy is actually a group of novellas that were packaged as a trilogy for the connivance of the publisher. The LOTR's trilogy was actually a single book that was broken into three parts for the publisher.
So, should they be considered a single book rather than a series?

Traditionally, science fiction and fantasy has been lumped together and there are quite a few books that are a blend of the two. For example, is Star Wars, SF or Fantasy? Should Dune be considered a fantasy since it includes elements that are fantastic rather than science based?

Azimov's Foundation Trilogy list sales as 20 million, excluding magazine sales. The LOTR trilogy of 150 million, while the Hobbit has sales of 100 million. Rowling's last Harry Potter book had sales of 44 million (apparently the individual sales figures for the first six haven't been reported publicly). Dune is listed as sales of 12 million.

Right now, I can't find sales figures for Ender's Game. That could be because it started as a short story, was then made into a novel and has been revised a couple of times, so the question becomes how to you count that? The fact that it isn't in the list is most likely because either the figures aren't publicly available than because it hasn't sold enough copies to make the list.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Asimov's original Foundation trilogy is actually a group of novellas that were packaged as a trilogy for the connivance of the publisher. The LOTR's trilogy was actually a single book that was broken into three parts for the publisher.
So, should they be considered a single book rather than a series?

In the case of LOTR, yes, unquestionably. If you read the "Note on the Text" which appears at the start of every modern edition of LOTR it will tell you quite categorically that it's NOT a trilogy, but a single book.

[charlesatan]

A related infographic (but feel free to question their data sources):

http://www.graspingforthewind.com/20...s-of-all-time/

[charlesatan]

With regards to the fix-up novels (i.e. Ender's Game), you don't count the original publication it was printed in (i.e. a magazine, an anthology), since the point of sale to that is the source (i.e. Asimov's magazine, Eclipse anthology, etc.). Edit: Unless the short story/novella/novelette was sold as a book, which didn't really happen often until now (with the proliferation of eBooks or special editions).

Multiple editions, however, is a valid point, and depending on the source, they tend to be counted as one (although individual best-seller lists like NY times or USA Today will usually just count one version of the same edition [i.e. hardcover] that includes reprints of the same edition [but not one by a different publisher]).

[theducks]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Most of those stats depend on how you define things. For example, most of the books prior to the 1980's first appeared as a serial in magazines (that is how I first read Zelazny's Amber series), so shouldn't magazine sales be included?

Asimov's original Foundation trilogy is actually a group of novellas that were packaged as a trilogy for the connivance of the publisher. The LOTR's trilogy was actually a single book that was broken into three parts for the publisher.
So, should they be considered a single book rather than a series?

Traditionally, science fiction and fantasy has been lumped together and there are quite a few books that are a blend of the two. For example, is Star Wars, SF or Fantasy? Should Dune be considered a fantasy since it includes elements that are fantastic rather than science based?

Azimov's Foundation Trilogy list sales as 20 million, excluding magazine sales. The LOTR trilogy of 150 million, while the Hobbit has sales of 100 million. Rowling's last Harry Potter book had sales of 44 million (apparently the individual sales figures for the first six haven't been reported publicly). Dune is listed as sales of 12 million.

Right now, I can't find sales figures for Ender's Game. That could be because it started as a short story, was then made into a novel and has been revised a couple of times, so the question becomes how to you count that? The fact that it isn't in the list is most likely because either the figures aren't publicly available than because it hasn't sold enough copies to make the list.

I read Dune (and quite a few others that later made it into paperback) in Analog SF and F