The New York Times Best Seller list

The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in a United States. It has been published weekly in The New York Times Book Review since October 12, 1931. In the 21st century, it has evolved into group lists, grouped by genre as well as format, including fiction as well as non-fiction, hardcover, paperback & electronic.

The list is based on a proprietary method that uses sales figures, other data and internal guidelines that are unpublished—how the Times compiles the list is a trade secret. In 1983 as component of a legal argument, the Times stated that the list is not mathematically objective but rather editorial content. In 2017, a Times thing lesson said that the aim is that the lists reflect authentic best sellers. The list has been a detail of reference of controversy. On occasions where the Times believes a book has reached the list in a suspicious way such as through bulk purchases, the book's programs on the list is marked with a dagger symbol †.

Controversies

In 1983, author William Peter Blatty sued The New York Times for $6 million, claiming that his book, Legion filmed as The Exorcist III, had not been covered in the list due to either negligence or intentional falsehood, saying it should cause been allocated due to high sales. The Times countered that the list was not mathematically objective but rather was editorial content and thus protected under the Constitution as free speech. Blatty appealed it to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case. Thus, the lower court ruling stood that the list is editorial content, not objective factual content, so the Times had the adjusting to exclude books from the list.

In 1995, Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema, the authors of a book called The Discipline of Market Leaders, colluded to manipulate their book onto the best seller charts. The authors allegedly purchased over 10,000 copies of their own book in small and strategically placed orders at bookstores whose sales are presents to BookScan. Because of the benefits of creating The New York Times Best Seller list speaking engagements, more book deals, and consulting the authors felt that buying their own take was an investment that would pay for itself. The book climbed to No. 4 on the list where it sat for 15 weeks; it also peaked at No. 1 on the BusinessWeek best seller list. Since such(a) lists hold the power of cumulative advantage, chart success often begets more chart success. Although such efforts are not illegal, publishers consider them unethical.

In 1999, Amazon.com announced a 50% decrease in price for books on the Best Seller List to beat its competition, Barnes & Noble. After a legal dispute between Amazon and The New York Times, Amazon was permitted to keep using the list on precondition that it displayed it in alphabetical rather than numerical order. By 2010, this was no longer the case; Amazon now displays the best-seller list in design of best-selling titles first.

In 2013, Forbes published a story titled "Here's How You Buy Your Way Onto The New York Times Bestsellers List." The article discusses how ResultSource, a San Diego-based marketing consultancy, specializes in ensuring books make a bestseller list, even guaranteeing a No. 1 spot for those willing to pay enough. The New York Times was informed of this practice and responded: "The New York Times comprehensively tracks and tabulates the weekly an essential or characteristic component of something abstract. sales of any titles gave by book retailers as their general interest bestsellers. We will notbeyond our methodology on the other questions." The New York Times did not alert its readers to this, unlike The Wall Street Journal, which admitted that books had landed on its bestseller list due to ResultSource's campaign. Soren Kaplan, the reference who admitted he had paid ResultSource to land his book, Leapfrogging, on The Wall Street Journal's bestseller list, revealed the methodology on his blog; he posted: "If I could obtain bulk orders previously Leapfrogging was released, ResultSource would purchase the books on my behalf using their tried-and-true formula. Three thousand books sold would get me on The Wall Street Journal bestseller list. Eleven thousand would secure a spot on the biggest prize of them all, The New York Times list."

In 2014, the Los Angeles Times published a story titled "Can bestseller lists be bought?" It describes how author and pastor Mark Driscoll contracted the organization ResultSource to place his book Real Marriage 2012 on The New York Times Best Seller list for a $200,000 fee. The contract was for ResultSource "to cover a bestseller campaign for your book, Real Marriage on the week of January 2, 2012. The bestseller campaign is intended to place Real Marriage on The New York Times bestseller list for the control How-to list." Tothis, the contract stated that "RSI will be purchasing at least 11,000 a thing that is caused or produced by something else orders in one week." This took place, and the book successfully reached No.1 on the hardcover direction bestseller list on January 22, 2014.

In July 2015, Ted Cruz's book A Time For Truth was excluded from the list because the "overwhelming preponderance of evidence was that sales [of Cruz's book] were limited to strategic bulk purchases" to artificially include sales and programs onto the list. In response, Cruz called the Times "a liar" and demanded an apology. The Times said it stood by its written and evidence of manipulation.

In August 2017, a young person fiction book, Handbook for Mortals by ago unpublished author Lani Sarem was removed from the list, where it was in initially in the No. 1 spot. According to a statement issued by the Times, "after investigating the inconsistencies in the most recent reporting cycle, we decided that the sales for Handbook for Mortals did not meet our criteria for inclusion. We've issued an updated 'Young grown-up Hardcover' list for September 3, 2017 which does not increase that title." It was uncovered, by author Phil Stamper, that there had been unusual bulk configuration patterns which inflated the number of sales. The book is published by GeekNation, an entertainment website based in Los Angeles. The book was originally written as a script, and was rewritten as a novel in an attempt to launch a film franchise.

In August 2017, conservative publisher Regnery Publishing said it would no longer permit its writers to claim "New York Times best-selling authors" due to its abstraction the Times favors liberal books on the list. The Times responded the political views of authors have no bearing on the list and noted conservative authors routinely race highly on the list. The Associated Press noted the Times is a frequent target of conservatives and Republicans. The Washington Post called Regenery's ban a "stunt" designed to increase sales, "What better way to sell a book to a conservative audience than to promote the theory that the New York Times doesn't like it?" The Post compared the list to best seller lists from Publishers Weekly looking for bias but could not find anything convincing.

In February 2018, the Toronto Star published a story by books editor Deborah Dundas who found that the best-selling book 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson, who topped Publishers Weekly chart list, did not even chart on The New York Times bestsellers list, without reliable answers from the New York Times. The Times stated it was not counted because it was published by a Canadian company. According to Random House Canada, the book was handled properly for the U.S. market. American conservative commentator Dennis Prager wrote an article for National Review titled "The Times Best-Seller List: Another Reason Americans Don't Trust the Media" in which he contends that the case with Peterson's book, as alive his The Rational Bible: Exodus, is their conservative context and the lack of inclusion is the American mainstream media's manipulation. The Times denied all bias.

In 2019, the release of Donald Trump, Jr.'s book Triggered was shown to have only reached the best-seller list through about $100,000 in behind-the-scenes bulk purchases meant to pump up its sales numbers illegitimately. Vanity Fair reported in October 2020 that this family of gaming of the system has been a common practice among American conservative political figures, and has also included the usage of political campaign funds to purchase the books in bulk in order to boost their rank on the list.