Why Is Every Book A Bestseller?

I see this question all the time. People ask it on Reddit. People ask it on, Quora. People ask it at signings. Why does it seem like every book in the world is a New York Times bestseller? And I have some things to

say about this because if you look on the threads where people answer this, the number one answer they give is wrong. The number one answer that you will usually see is that the New York

Times is easy to scam. This is not true. The reason people think this is there have been a few high-profile cases, which I'm not going to bring up the details cuz I'll probably get them wrong, but where certain individuals or groups have organized mass buying

campaigns to buy a whole bunch of books in order to try to land something on the New York Times list. And because these scams happened, people assume it's common. Well, we know about the scams because they were discovered and they were stopped. And

I've worked in this industry now for I 20 years and this really doesn't happen. Now, when I say it really doesn't happen yes occasionally there is that possibility for vulnerability, but you've got to remember this is very difficult to do

and the bookstores notice if the same people are coming in and buying the books over and over again like, I think one of the scams was that, they would send the same five people in to a store and buy 20 copies and then like return them somewhere else or something like that. This just doesn't happen. At least not in the frequency and that

the people are implying. They also say that the New York Times is easy like it picks the best sellers just by its own whims. Maybe that was once the case. I can't really speak to that, but right now we have BookScan, which is like the

Nielsen ratings for books. We know exactly how many copies sell and the New York Times isn't the only best-seller list out there. The New York Times is not like fudging the numbers in any measurable way.

The Times list will usually within a few points of the USA Today list, which will be in a few within a few points of the Bookscan list. So, we know how many books are selling. We know that the system is not getting scammed, not on the level that people say. So,

why does it seem like every book is a best-seller? Well, I have three answers for you. All right. The number two answer that you often see is correct. I wouldn't say it's the main reason, but it is correct. And the number two answer you often see is there are a lot of best-seller lists.

This is one of the reasons that it seems like every book is a best-seller. The New York Times has a separate YA list and a separate adult list. And it has even in the adult list it has a separate hardcover list and a separate ebook plus

ebook plus paperback list. And they have fiction and nonfiction split into separate lists. So, at any given time the New York Times changes it around a little bit, but graphic novels are on their own list. So, you can have six number one best-sellers in a week.