It’s been awhile since I discussed bestseller lists. The last, “NYT Bestsellers and Bestselling Authors – Literary Genius or Luck?” concentrated more on how they actually got on that list. I’ll wager it was a great deal more complex than you’d ever imagined, especially given that the status on the list can be kept or lost week to week or even day to day.
I recently read and reviewed another (“instant #1) NYTimes bestseller that hit the Amazon Charts at #9 and was a Reese’s Book Club Pick. (Is it just me or does she pick some duds?) Obviously, I’m well out of the loop. I didn’t care for it. NYTimes bestseller doesn’t necessarily equate a good book. Well, then, who do you trust?
There is no one standard for judging bestsellers as each has a different method of counting sales, or in the instance of the NYTimes—curating the list(? It’s up to the editor).
So, I got to thinking about a few of the other reviews of that book. There were those who agreed with me. Then I got to thinking about the big publishers who print those lists. There used to be five considered to wield the most weight with their bestseller lists. Then The Wall Street Journal dropped out in November, 2023.
Now we look to the big four:
- NYTimes
- USA Today
- Publishers Weekly
- Amazon Charts
New York Times
Probably the most prominent and the one I discussed previously at length is the New York Times bestsellers list. They’ve published that list since 1931. The NYTimes usually tracks book sales from various sources including national and independent bookstores that includes Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Both the NYTimes and USA Today look for sales totaling a minimum of 5,000 copies in a single week and is across diverse retailers AND multiple geographic locations. However, the list is a curated list (not necessarily a list of the top sellers) as the editors pick which of those bestselling books to include on the list. (They may include both wholesale and retail sales.) Their system of analyzing sales data is secret.
Does it seem like there are so many more NYTimes bestselling authors these days? Does every other book gain the title of bestseller? Maybe there are a greater number of new bestsellers along with the older ones.
For one thing, there are upwards of eleven categories now of bestsellers (with 20 or so titles per sublist). And two, publishers have cultivated gaming techniques meant to kick sales (engineered sales on launch week)—if even for one week—the title will stick.
What are the eleven bestseller lists?
Fiction:
Combined Print & E-book Fiction
Hardcover Fiction
Paperback Trade Fiction
Nonfiction:
Combined Print & E-book Fiction
Hardcover Nonfiction
Paperback Nonfiction
Advice, How-to & Miscellaneous
Children’s:
Middle Grade Hardcover
Young Adult Hardcover
Picture Books
Good grief! Eleven categories, ten titles per list(?)—that’s a lot of books and authors. But wait, there seems to be a lot of difference between sources regarding the actual number of titles per list. Things are getting dizzying and perhaps well beyond the capacity of this blogger. Gees, I thought I had a simple question:
What are the chances of an author landing on the NYTimes bestsellers list? That seems to stump most web sources I viewed. Anywhere from 0.00208% (1 in 48,000) to 0.08%?
USA Today
There are actually 150 bestselling books published on USATODAY.COM on Wednesdays and the top 50 books in print on Thursdays. USA Today publishes (according to AI Overview) a few key requirements: They typically produce a weekly list that ranks top-selling books across multiple sales platforms and sales must be from retailers in the US.
Minimum prices at $.99 or higher and reported from Monday to Sunday.
Other Considerations:
Tuesday releases
Book is available through various platforms; i.e., Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo…
Strong social media presence
Stacked promos
iBooks and Nook won’t report numbers until at least 500 US sales have been made in the week.
Publisher support, and strategic marketing campaigns (i.e., BookBub ads or Featured Deals) as well as pre-order period can increase the author’s chances.)
As noted above, they look for combined sales of 5-9,000 within a single week. (Sales in the US only.) That can fluctuate based on the number of new releases each week and KDP titles are not eligible.
Lends some legitimacy to adding the title on the book covers, huh? And yes, even if you’re only on the list for a week once, you can still claim that label for life. A more attainable goal, but still sadly at estimates of 0.1%
Publishers Weekly
As with the first two lists, this trade publication gathers sales data from a range of retailers and must be able to track a high sales volume (5,000 to 10,000) across various reporting channels during the track week. However, they primarily focus on books from traditional publishers but will consider self-published authors via BookLife. (They rely heavily on data from NPD BookScan (previously Nielsen BookScan, then merged in 2023 and renamed Circana BookScan), which covers around 85% of US print book sales.) Again, sales would include online and physical stores.
Additional Considerations:
Publishers Weekly will accept requests for a book review consideration using their Galley Tracker platform. (As of March 24, 2025, PW charges $25 for every book submitted for consideration.)
They will want both a digital galley as well as two physical galleys for review.
Submission for the book to be reviewed should be provided well prior to the proposed publication date, preferably three to four months.
And they will look for both a strong media presence and marketing strategy.
No, no online guess was found for the percentage of chance to attain their bestseller list.
Amazon.com
Amazon, the dominant online retailer, creates its bestseller lists based on sales that are updated hourly. They have a weekly bestseller list they call Amazon Charts. (Of course, you’ll still see “bestseller” or “bestselling author”.) There are campaigns that can take advantage of adjustments to boost the book, albeit temporarily, for better rankings. Even the weight and price of a book can affect it’s position since Amazon favors hardcover books whereas The New York Times does better with mass market paperbacks.
Amazon tracks all types of books from print to digital and audio and the list is posted every Wednesday.
As with the first three noted above, most of the criteria remains the same with the exception that Amazon looks for thousands of book sales within a 24-hour period. You knew that though, huh. WHOA! That means, of course, that in some niche categories, the number of sales needed to reach #1 can be lower, depending on how you’ve chosen your category. I got a chuckle out of that one, as I’ve seen some new and wildly interesting category names recently. (Bangsian Fantasy, Cli-Fi, Epistolary—yeah, I think I’ve read one of those recently.)
And, always of interest, Amazon Charts also ranks books by the average number of daily Kindle readers and Audible listeners.
Not likely we’ll ever see a percentage of chance to land on their Charts lists. Still, AI Overview notes that an author’s chances of landing on their bestsellers lists at 1 in 100,000 depending on the category.
Since some lists are compiled using Bookscan (a reporting system from book retailers) and some don’t (i.e. Amazon), how can you get a true list of bestselling books? You definitely can’t gauge one you’ll like by their sales and I’m less inclined to believe a 5 star Amazon review over a 4 star Goodreads review.
Do you actually use one of those lists to track your reading requests or purchases? I don’t think I ever have, but I do lean very heavily on Goodreads; their Choice awards, recommendations, and new releases, not to mention all your own suggestions and reviews.
©2025 V Williams
In addition to those links noted above, I picked up a lot of info from AI Overview and Wikipedia.
Rosepoint Publishing 