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The New York Times Bestseller List

Written by: Seth Godin

Article Overview: Cumulative advantage is a powerful side effect of story telling. Get out front, even a little, and you sell more because many people like to invest in a winner. We like to read what other people are reading.

The New York Times Bestseller List

Cumulative advantage is a powerful side effect of story telling. Get out front, even a little, and you sell more because many people like to invest in a winner. We like to read what other people are reading.

A classic example of cumulative advantage is the power of the Times' list.

Rebecca has a good post about the list but she misses the two key points.

The first: The Times' list is completely fictional. Made up. Divorced from reality. The stated goal of the list is to find (and promote) books that Times editors want people to read, not books that are actually selling a lot. (The editor of the Book Review told this to me years ago). So, they make up 'rules' to appear consistent. When Harry Potter was selling like crazy, they invented a new list so that they could take JK Rowling's books off the real list. When diet and other books started selling a lot, they made up a new ghetto (miscellaneous) for those books. When books started selling in places like Wal-Mart (thus driving the snootiness factor down) the Times penalized sales in chain outlets. And books like the Bible are banished because they're not current enough.

The second: the list is easier to manipulate than ever before. The identity of reporting stores is becoming easier to find and the leverage of being on the list is high enough that authors can profit just by buying their own books in enough quantity.

The best part... it doesn't matter. Cumulative advantage is so powerful that even though the accurate reports of book sales often completely contradict the Times list, authors and others still obsess over it. We're always looking for clues, especially in crowded markets.

The thing that amazes me is that there are so few bestseller lists in other markets. Consumers want them. Producers can leverage them. It's an opportunity, I think.

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Article Tags: accurate reports, bestseller lists, bible, consumers, diet, editors, ghetto, harry potter, jk rowling, leverage, new york times, new york times bestseller, own books, producers, rebecca, s books, thing that amazes, wal mart, york times bestseller



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Does a New Company need a "Big" PR firm? - I've started work with a brand new company that is going to do loss mitigation. My boss intends to hire a "big" PR firm - ie one that costs a lot of money - because he wants press releases sent out to the New York Times, the LA Times - all the major papers around the country - and he think they'll be more likely to print them if they come from a "big" firm as opposed to a one-person PR firm. I think it doesn't matter where the press release comes from as long as its well written. What are the opinions here?
Re: Does a New Company need a "Big" PR firm? - I agree with Kevin [quote:3b8fyubd]I think the most important factor is whether your press release will reach the most number of your target audience or not.[/quote:3b8fyubd] You dont a big company that will charge mega bucks as Im sure they will even add a %age to the cost of the press release. Im sure if you approach New York Times, the LA Times with every thing presented professionally I think it will still stand the same chance. I would start advertising online, then locally thats when the NYT can see what there missing out on! And to test the water first!
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