So many books, so little time. Yet the books we love stay with us for a lifetime, which is the premise of Book Roots. What do you believe is the best book every written and why? Was it innovative, edgy, struck a nerve because you’ve been in the same situation?
Share your thoughts on the best book every written (other than the Bible or other religious tome.)
Books are a commitment. Depending on the page count you could invest 6-10 hours of your life on a book. Do you have a certain number of pages you read before you decide to give up on it? Does the circumstance matter – like if it’s a library book versus one you paid for? One that’s on the best-seller list or one that was recommended by a friend? Have you ever started to give up but then found that it did pick up speed and get better later on and you were so glad you stuck with it?
The statistics are dreadful, no matter how you slice it. Fewer Americans are reading, and when they do read, they don’t read much. By reading, of course, I’m not talking about e-mails or the Internet or even magazines, which provide bite-sized news, advice and annoying FW: FW: FW:s. I’m talking Books! Non-fiction, fiction, pick a genre, any genre, just for the love of God, read! Hear are some stats to depress you as we launch in to our Deep Thought Thursday discussion. Writers and readers are encouraged to jump in!
Welcome to A/B’s second Deep Thought Thursday. Writers and readers are asked to comment on our topic.
Publishers throughout the ages have searched for the “magic formula”. Brilliant essayists and savvy journalists have taken a stab at reviewing the statistics, throwing in some psychographic analysis and offering up some answers. Midwest Book Review explains: “The purpose of bestseller lists is to make money. This publicity sells newspapers or magazines and advertising space in those periodicals.
Bestseller lists are usually generated in four book categories: Hardcover-Fiction, Hardcover-Nonfiction, Trade Paperback (softcover)-Fiction and Trade Paperback-Nonfiction. Some lists have categories for Mass-Market Paperback-Fiction and Mass-Market Paperback-Nonfiction.
Bestseller lists are compiled by several periodicals, and they use different methods. In addition, there are national, regional and specialty lists. National lists. The New York Times editors select 36 titles they feel might be best-selling titles for the week and poll some 3,000 bookstores across the U.S. The stores are asked to fill in the number of books sold next to each title and to write in fast-moving books not on the list. Of course, if a book is not on the list, it is not likely to make the top ten that week. But it may be added to the list by the editors the following week.
The Wall Street Journal lists the top 15 best-selling books in Hardcover-Fiction and Hardcover-Nonfiction/General. The paper polls 2,500 chain bookstores nationwide. The figures reflect books actually sold as they are gathered automatically by the bar-code scanners in the stores.”
The New York Times wrote a great article about it last year, noting both the surprise hits and the flops (where the publisher paid a big advance and didn’t make their money back.)
It may be a mystery/gamble/luck proposition, but that won’t keep the publishers or the authors from doing their part to find the golden ticket: big sales.
Topic:
What makes a bestseller? A blockbuster? As a reader, how much do you depend on the bestseller lists to determine what you’ll read next? What’s the latest bestseller you read? Blockbuster? Did it live up to the hype? As a writer, what do you do to increase your odds of making it to the bestseller list?
Let the discussion begin!