Editing Bestseller

{{Short description|Top-selling or frequently-borrowed book}}
{{about|the concept of a book as a bestseller|other uses|Bestseller (disambiguation)}}
A '''bestseller''' is a [[book]] or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by [[newspaper]]s, [[magazine]]s, and [[book store]] chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties ([[novel]], [[nonfiction book]], [[cookbook]], etc.). An author may also be referred to as a bestseller if their work often appears in a list.  Well-known bestseller lists in the U.S. are published by [[Publishers Weekly lists of bestselling novels in the United States|''Publishers Weekly'']], ''[[USA Today]]'', ''[[The New York Times]]'', and [[IndieBound]].<ref>{{cite book |last2=Bennett |first2=Lisa |author1=Kim Wilkins |author1-link=Kim Wilkins |title=Writing Bestsellers: Love, Money, and Creative Practice |date=2021 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-72563-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QXtGEAAAQBAJ |access-date=December 16, 2023 |chapter=What are Bestsellers?}}</ref> The New York Times tracks book sales from national and independent bookstores, as well as sales from major internet retailers such as [[Amazon.com]] and [[Barnes & Noble]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Diamond |first=Edwin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LAfZ-Y13obwC&pg=PA364 |title=Behind the Times: Inside the New New York Times |date=1995 |isbn=9780226144726 |page=364|publisher=University of Chicago Press }}</ref>

In everyday use, the term ''bestseller'' is not usually associated with a specified level of [[sales]], and may be used very loosely in publishers' publicity. Books of superior [[academia|academic]] value tend not to be bestsellers, although there are exceptions. Lists simply give the highest-selling titles in the category over the stated period. Some books have sold many more copies than current "bestsellers", but over a long period of time.

[[Blockbuster (entertainment)|Blockbuster]]s for [[film]]s and [[chart-topper]]s in recorded music are similar terms, although, in film and music, these measures generally are related to industry sales figures for attendance, requests, broadcast plays, or units sold.

Particularly in the case of [[novel]]s, a large budget and a chain of [[literary agent]]s, [[editing|editor]]s, [[publisher]]s, [[reviewer]]s, [[retailer]]s, [[librarian]]s, and [[marketing]] efforts are involved in "making" bestsellers, that is, trying to increase sales.

Steinberg defined a bestseller as a book for which demand, within a short time of that book's initial publication, vastly exceeds what is then considered to be big sales.<ref>Steinberg, S. H. ''Five Hundred Years of Printing''. 1955.</ref><ref>P. N. Furbank. "The Twentieth-Century Bestseller". In Boris Ford (ed.). ''The Pelican Guide to English Literature''. Volume 7: "The Modern Age". Penguin Books. 1961. Page 429.</ref><ref>Alternative definitions are offered by Mott, Hart and Escarpit: See Greenspan and Rose, ''Book History'', Pennsylvania State University, Press, 2000, {{ISBN|0 271 02050 4}}, vol 3, {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=PEZkkbohbtoC&pg=PA288&output=html_text p 288}}.</ref>

==Early best sellers==
The term "best seller" is first known to have been recorded in print in 1889 in the [[Kansas City, Missouri]] newspaper ''The Kansas Times & Star'',<ref>"best, a. and adv." The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online December 12, 2007.</ref> but the phenomenon of immediate popularity goes back to the early days of mass production of printed books. For earlier books, when the maximum number of copies that would be printed was relatively small, a count of editions is the best way to assess sales. Since effective [[history of copyright|copyright]] was slow to take hold, many editions were [[pirated]] well into the period of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], and without effective [[royalties|royalty systems]] in place, authors often saw little, if any, of the revenues for their popular works.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}
 
The earliest highly popular books were nearly all religious, but the [[Bible]], as a large book, remained expensive until the nineteenth century. This tended to keep the numbers printed and sold low. Unlike today, it was important for a book to be short to be a bestseller, or it would be too expensive to reach a large audience. Very short works such as ''[[Ars moriendi]]'', the ''[[Biblia pauperum]]'', and versions of the ''[[Apocalypse]]'' were published as cheap [[block-book]]s in large numbers of different editions in several languages in the fifteenth century. These were probably affordable items for most of the minority of literate members of the population. In 16th and 17th century England ''[[Pilgrim's Progress]]'' (1678) and abridged versions of ''[[Foxe's Book of Martyrs]]'' were the most broadly read books. ''[[Robinson Crusoe]]'' (1719) and ''[[The Adventures of Roderick Random]]'' (1748) were early eighteenth century short novels with very large publication numbers, as well as gaining international success.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}<ref>For details of editions, see individual articles (in most cases)</ref>

''[[Tristram Shandy]]'', a novel by [[Laurence Sterne]], became a "cult" object in England and throughout Europe, with important cultural consequences among those who could afford to purchase books during the era of its publication. The same could be said of the works of [[Voltaire]], particularly his comedic and philosophically satirical novel, ''[[Candide]]'', which, according to recent research, sold more than 20,000 copies in its first month alone in 1759. Likewise, fellow French Enlightenment author [[Rousseau]], especially his ''[[Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse]]'' (1761) and of [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]]'s novel, ''Die Leiden des jungen Werthers'' (''[[The Sorrows of Young Werther]]'') (1774). As with some modern bestsellers, ''Werther'' spawned what today would be called a [[Spin-off (media)|spin-off]] industry with items such as ''Werther eau de cologne'' and [[porcelain]] puppets depicting the main characters, being sold in large numbers.<ref>Hoffmeister, Gerhart. [http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5596 "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther)"]. ''The Literary Encyclopedia''. 17 June 2004. The Literary Dictionary Company. Retrieved 17 March 2006</ref><ref>{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.goethe-museum.com/deutsch/0003-deutsch-die%20sammlung.htm
 |title        = Deutsche Sammlung
 |publisher    = Goethe-Museum Düsseldorf
 |access-date   = 2012-09-10
 |language     = de
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20101024223754/http://www.goethe-museum.com/deutsch/0003-deutsch-die%20sammlung.htm
 |archive-date = 2010-10-24
 |url-status     = dead
}}</ref>

By the time of [[Byron]] and Sir [[Walter Scott]], effective copyright laws existed, at least in England, and many authors depended heavily on their income from their large royalties. America remained a zone of piracy until the mid-nineteenth century, a fact of which [[Charles Dickens]] and [[Mark Twain]] bitterly complained. By the middle of the 19th century, a situation akin to modern publication had emerged, where most bestsellers were written for a popular taste and are now almost entirely forgotten, with odd exceptions such as ''[[East Lynne]]'' (remembered only for the line "Gone, gone, and never called me mother!"), the wildly popular ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'', and [[Sherlock Holmes]].

== Description and types of bestseller ==
Bestsellers are usually separated into [[fiction]] and [[non-fiction]] categories. Different list compilers have created a number of other subcategories. ''The New York Times'' was reported to have started its "Children's Books" section in 2001 just to move the [[Harry Potter]] books out of the No. 1, 2, and 3 positions on their fiction chart, which the then three-book series had monopolized for over a year.<ref>Bolonik, Kera. [http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2000/08/16/bestseller/ "A list of their own"]. Salon.com:August 16, 2000. Retrieved December 7, 2005.</ref>

Bestsellers also may be ranked separately for [[hardcover]] and [[paperback]] editions. Typically, a hardcover edition appears first, followed in months or years by the much less expensive paperback version. Hardcover bestseller status may hasten the paperback release of the same, or slow the release, if hardcover sales are brisk enough. Some lists even have a third category, [[Paperback#Trade paperback|trade paperback]] bestsellers.

In the [[United Kingdom]], a hardcover book could be considered a "bestseller" with sales ranging from 4,000 to 25,000 copies per week, and in [[Canada]], bestsellers are determined according to weekly rankings in the country's national print sales tracking service, [[BookNet Canada|BNC]] SalesData.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/bestsellers/bestsellers-hardcover-fiction-may-25-2013/article4226573/|title=Bestsellers: Hardcover Fiction, September 3, 2016|date=13 October 2023 |publisher=The Globe & Mail}}</ref> There are many "bestseller lists" that display anywhere from 10 to 150 titles.

===Differences among lists===
Bestseller lists may vary widely, depending on the method used for calculating sales. The [[Book Sense#IndieBound.org|Indie]] bestseller lists, for example, use only sales numbers, provided by independently owned (non-chain) bookstores, while ''The New York Times'' list includes both wholesale and retail sales from a variety of sources. A book that sells well in gift shops and grocery stores may hit a ''New York Times'' list without ever appearing on an Indie list. ''[[USA Today]]'' has only one list, not hardcover/paperback, so that relative sales of these categories cannot be ascertained from it.

Lists from [[Amazon.com]], the dominant online book retailer, are based only on sales from their own Web site, and are updated on an hourly basis. Wholesale sales figures are not factored into Amazon's calculations. Numerous Web sites offer advice for authors about a temporary method to boost their book higher on Amazon's list using carefully timed buying campaigns that take advantage of the frequent adjustments to rankings. For example, [[faith healing]] author [[Zhi Gang Sha]] has used this method to create a number of #1 bestsellers.<ref>[[Zhi Gang Sha#Works]]</ref>  The brief sales spike allows authors to tout that their book was an "Amazon.com top 100 seller" in marketing materials for books that actually have relatively low sales. Eventually book buyers may begin to recognize the relative differences among lists and settle upon which lists they will consult to determine their purchases.

The weight and price of a book may affect its positioning on lists. The Amazon.com list tends to favor [[hardcover]], more expensive books, where the shipping charge is a smaller percentage of the overall purchase price or is sometimes free, and which tend to be more deeply discounted than paperbacks. Inexpensive [[mass market paperback]]s tend to do better on ''The New York Times'' list than on Amazon's. Indie and ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' separate mass market paperbacks onto their own list.

Category structure affects the positioning of a book in other ways. A book that might be buried on the Indie hardcover fiction list could be positioned very well on ''The New York Times'' hardcover advice list or the ''Publishers Weekly'' religion hardcover list.

===Verifiability===
Bestseller reports from companies such as Amazon.com, which appear to be based strictly on auditable sales to the public, may be at odds with bestseller lists compiled from more casual data, such as ''The New York Times'' lists' [[Statistical survey|survey]] of [[retailing|retailers]] and publishers. The exact method for ranking ''The New York Times'' bestseller lists is a closely guarded secret.

This situation suggests a similar one in the area of [[popular music]]. In 1991, [[Billboard magazine|''Billboard'']] magazine switched its [[chart]] data from manual reports filed by stores, to automated [[cash register]] data collected by a service called [[SoundScan]]. The conversion saw a dramatic shake-up in chart content from one week to the next.

Today, many lists come from automated sources. Booksellers may use their [[Point of sale|POS (point-of-sale)]] systems to report automatically to Book Sense. Wholesalers such as the giant [[Ingram Content Group]] have bestseller calculations similar to Amazon's, but they are available only to subscribing retailers. [[Barnes & Noble]] and other large retail chains collect sales data from retail outlets and their Web sites to build their own bestseller lists.

[[Nielsen BookScan]] U.S. is perhaps the most aggressive attempt to produce a completely automatic and trusted set of bestseller lists. They claim to be gathering data directly from cash registers at more than 4,500 retail locations, including [[independent bookstore]]s, large chains such as [[Barnes & Noble]], [[Powell's Books]], and [[Borders (retailer)|Borders]] (formerly), and the general retailer [[Costco]]. Unlike the consumer-oriented lists, BookScan's data is extremely detailed and quite expensive. Subscriptions to BookScan cost up to $75,000 per year, but it can provide publishers and wholesalers with an accurate picture of book sales with regional and other statistical analyses.

===The making of a bestseller===
{{blockquote|There is only one recipe for a best seller and it is a very simple one. You have to get the reader to turn over the page.

If you look back on the best sellers you have read, you will find that they all have this quality. You simply ''have'' to turn over the page.|[[Ian Fleming]], 1963<ref name="temple20190528">{{Cite web |last=Temple |first=Emily |date=2019-05-28 |title=Ian Fleming Explains How to Write a Thriller |url=https://lithub.com/ian-fleming-explains-how-to-write-a-thriller/ |website=Lithub |language=en-US |access-date=2022-12-07}}</ref>}}

Ultimately, having a great number of buyers creates a bestseller; however, there is a distinct "making of" process that determines which books have the potential to achieve that status. Not all publishers rely on, nor strive for, bestsellers, as the survival of [[small press]]es indicates. Large publishing houses, on the other hand, are like major record labels and film studios, and require consistent high returns to maintain their large overhead. Thus, the stakes are high. It is estimated that 200,000 new books are published each year in the U.S., and less than 1% achieve bestseller status.<ref name="by_the_numbers">Maryles, Daisy. [http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20060109/7902-bestsellers-by-the-numbers-.html Bestsellers by the Numbers"]. Publishers Weekly; 9-Jan-2006. Retrieved 22-Apr-2006.</ref> Along the way, major players act as gatekeepers and enablers, including literary agents, editors, publishing houses, booksellers, and the media (particularly, publishers of book reviews and bestseller lists). While literature awards have a beneficial effect at least on sales of hard covers,<ref name=":0" /> their impact is not detectable beyond a benchmark of ca. 800,000 sold copies.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Form|first=Sven|date=2017-12-20|title=Measuring the Aesthetic Success of Books: Can User-driven Databases Fill the Gap?|url=http://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/ctra/4/2/article-p322.xml|journal=Creativity. Theories – Research – Applications|volume=4|issue=2|pages=322–332|doi=10.1515/ctra-2017-0016|issn=2354-0036|doi-access=free}}</ref> The high visibility of an established and best-selling author is paramount in the equation also. In addition to writing the book, an author has to acquire representation and negotiate this publishing chain.<ref>Hill, Brian and Power, Dee. ''The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories from Authors and the Editors, Agents, and Booksellers Behind Them''. Kaplan Business; March 1, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7931-9308-7}}.</ref>

At least one scientific approach to creating bestsellers has been devised. In 2004, [[Didier Sornette]], a [[professor]] of [[geophysics]] and a [[complex system]]s theorist at [[UCLA]], using Amazon.com sales data, created a mathematical model for predicting bestseller potential based on very early sales results. This information could be used to identify a potential for bestseller status and recommend fine tuned [[advertising]] and [[publicity]] efforts accordingly.<ref>[http://physorg.com/news2207.html "Researchers use physics to analyze dynamics of bestsellers"]. [[PhysOrg.com]]: December 5, 2004. Retrieved December 7, 2005.<br />[http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=5686 "UCLA Physicist Applies Physics to Best-Selling Books"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701174152/http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=5686 |date=2007-07-01 }}. UCLA News: December 1, 2004. Retrieved December 7, 2005.</ref> In 1995, 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 reported to Bookscan. Because of the ancillary benefits of making [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''The New York Times'' Best Seller list]] (speaking engagements, more book deals, and consulting) the authors felt that buying their own work was an investment that would pay for itself. The book climbed to #8 on the list where it sat for 15 weeks, also peaking at #1 on the ''[[BusinessWeek]]'' best seller list. Since such lists hold the power of [[information cascade|cumulative advantage]] chart success often begets more chart success. And although such efforts are not illegal, they are considered highly unethical by publishers.<ref>{{cite web 
 |url=http://www.businessweek.com/@@1AfdGIUQFSpBwAUA/archives/1995/b343648.arc.htm 
 |title=DID DIRTY TRICKS CREATE A BEST-SELLER? 
 |publisher=Stern, Willy 
 |date=August 1995 
 |access-date=2008-02-28 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080212042743/http://www.businessweek.com/%40%401AfdGIUQFSpBwAUA/archives/1995/b343648.arc.htm 
 |archive-date=2008-02-12 
 |url-status=dead 
 }}</ref>

From what is described above, intrinsic properties of books (like style or content) are often ignored or even deemed as irrelevant for their success by consumer psychologists, literary scholars, economists and sociologists alike. The success of novels is instead said to be made by extrinsic factors like literary critics, publishers, media, conformity and other social influences.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Form|first=Sven|title=Reaching Wuthering Heights with Brave New Words: The Influence of Originality of Words on the Success of Outstanding Best-Sellers|journal=The Journal of Creative Behavior|language=en|doi=10.1002/jocb.230|issn=2162-6057|year=2018|volume=53|issue=4|pages=508–518}}</ref> However, an elaborated model examining over a dozen external variables potentially influencing books sales could only explain less than 40% of differences in sales.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Schmidt-Stölting|display-authors=etal|date=Mar 2011|title=Success Drivers of Fiction Books: An Empirical Analysis of Hardcover and Paperback Editions in Germany|journal=Journal of Media Economics|volume=24|pages=24–47|doi=10.1080/08997764.2011.549428|s2cid=154217833}}</ref> Research found intrinsic properties of novels which do influence their success. For example, a smaller disparity between the frequency of emotional words and rational words was predictive for successful novels.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Scherer|first=Michael|date=1994|title=The Influences of the Relationship between Primary and Secondary Process Content on Aesthetic Success in Novels|journal=Empirical Studies of the Arts|volume=12|issue=2|pages=159–172|doi=10.2190/D156-0C3R-F5KG-RBQE|s2cid=145398857}}</ref>

===Unread bestsellers===
Bestsellers have gained such great popularity that it has sometimes become fashionable to purchase them. Critics have pointed out that just because a book is purchased doesn't mean it will be read. The rising length of bestsellers may mean that more of them are simply becoming bookshelf decor. In 1985 members of the staff of ''[[The New Republic]]'' placed coupons redeemable for $5 cash inside 70 books that were selling well, and none of them were sent in.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/15/books/think-tank-let-us-now-praise-books-well-sold-well-loved-but-seldom-read.html | title=THINK TANK; Let Us Now Praise Books Well Sold, Well Loved but Seldom Read | work=The New York Times| date=15 July 2002 | access-date=10 February 2015 | author=Goldstein, Bill}}</ref>

==Major publishers==
In April 2013 [[Penguin Random House]] was created to become the world's largest publisher. The two major shareholders are [[Bertelsmann]] (53%) and Penguin Group (47%) owned by [[Pearson PLC]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2013/04/05/penguin-random-house-the-worlds-largest-book-publisher-that-will-counter-amazon/|title=Meet Penguin Random House, the World's Largest Book Publisher That Will Counter Amazon|date=5 April 2013 }}</ref>

Other major publishers include [[Thomson Reuters]], [[Reed Elsevier]], [[Wolters Kluwer]], [[Hachette Book Group USA|Hachette]], [[McGraw Hill Education]], [[John Wiley and Sons]], [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]], [[HarperCollins]], [[Simon & Schuster]], [[Macmillan Publishers]], and [[Harlequin Enterprises]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/52677-the-world-s-54-largest-book-publishers-2012.html|title = The Global 50: The World's Largest Book Publishers, 2012}}</ref>

==Cultural role==
While the basic dictionary definition of ''bestseller'' is self-evident, "a popular, top-selling book", the practical cultural definition is somewhat more complex. As consumer bestseller lists generally do not detail specific criteria, such as numbers sold, sales period, sales region, and so forth, a book becomes a bestseller mainly because an "authoritative" source says it is. Calling a book a "top-selling" title is not so impressive as calling it "''The New York Times'' bestseller". Although the former phrase is assumed to be derived from sales figures, the latter benefits from the high profile of the particular list. A book that is identified as a "bestseller" greatly improves its chance of selling to a much wider audience. In this way, ''bestseller'' has taken on its own popular meaning, rather independent of empirical data, by becoming a compromised product category and, in effect, attempting to create a marketing image. For example, a "summer bestseller" is usually determined long before the summer is over, and signals a book's suitability for millions of lounging pool-side readers.

The use of the marketing phrase, ''underground bestseller'' further illustrates the independent-from-sales, self-defining aspect of the term. For example, publisher [[HarperCollins]] suggested the bestseller potential of ''Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel'' by announcing "...four years after her award-winning, underground bestseller, ''Little Altars Everywhere''..." in the promotion. The book went on to achieve bestseller status in the 1990s. In reviews of the 2002 film of the same name, the novel's bestseller status was cited routinely, as in "compelling adaptation of Rebecca Wells' bestseller".<ref>[http://www.harpercollins.com/global_scripts/product_catalog/book_xml.asp?isbn=0060173289 About Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060527224752/http://www.harpercollins.com/global_scripts/product_catalog/book_xml.asp?isbn=0060173289 |date=2006-05-27 }}, HarperCollins. The review quote is from [http://www.moviesunlimited.com/musite/product.asp?sku=D32695++ Movies Unlimited] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227142432/http://www.moviesunlimited.com/musite/product.asp?sku=D32695++ |date=2007-12-27 }}. Numerous such mentions may be located by a Web search for "film version Rebecca Wells bestseller" or similar. All retrieved 17 March 2006.</ref>

The famous [[Diogenes Verlag|Diogenes]] Publisher at [[Zürich]] ([[Switzerland|Swiss]]) started to talk about its own Worstsellers in 2006, and therewith brought a new mode-word into the German speaking European countries.<ref>{{citation|access-date=2025-03-11 |author=Sabine Albers |date=2007 |editor=Poetics and Linguistics Association Conference |isbn=978-90-420-2312-3 |pages=209 |periodical=Stylistics and Social Cognition |publisher=Rodopi |title=Top or Flop: Characteristics of Bestsellers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qFDzypBPJdMC&dq=%22Worstseller%22+bestseller&pg=PA209}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{citation|author=Hans Widmann |date=1975 |isbn=978-3-447-01654-4 |pages=303, 308 |publisher=Harrassowitz |title=Geschichte des Buchhandels vom Altertum bis zur Gegenwart: Bis zur Erfindung des Buchdrucks sowie Geschichte des deutschen Buchhandels}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>

==Connection with the movie industry==
Bestsellers play a significant role in the mainstream movie industry. There is a long-standing [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] practice of turning bestsellers into feature films. Many, if not the majority, of modern movie "classics" began as bestsellers. On the ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' fiction bestsellers of the year charts, we find: #1: ''[[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]]'' (2003); #3. ''[[Jaws (novel)|Jaws]]'' (1974); #2. ''[[The Exorcist (novel)|The Exorcist]]'' (1971); #1. ''[[Love Story (novel)|Love Story]]'' (1970); #2. ''[[The Godfather (novel)|The Godfather]]'' (1969); among many others. Several of each year's fiction bestsellers ultimately are made into high-profile movies. Being a bestseller novel in the U.S. during the last forty years has guaranteed consideration for a big budget, wide-release movie.<ref>{{cite magazine | url=https://www.forbes.com/2006/12/08/successful-film-adaptations-tech-media_cz_sc_books06_1208moviebook.html | title=From Best Seller To Blockbuster | magazine=Forbes | date=12 November 2006 | access-date=11 February 2015 | author=Chaudhuri, Saabira}}</ref><ref>[http://www.caderbooks.com/bestintro.html Publishers Weekly Bestseller Lists 1990-1995] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214002045/http://www.caderbooks.com/bestintro.html |date=2007-12-14 }}. Correlation with movies may be achieved by searching at [http://imdb.com Internet Movie Database (IMDb)]. Both retrieved 17 March 2006.</ref>{{original research inline
|date=September 2022}}

==See also==
* [[List of best-selling automobiles]]
* [[List of best-selling books]]
* [[List of best-selling video games]]
* [[List of best-selling music artists]]
* [[List of best-selling singles]]
* [[List of best-selling albums]]
* [[List of highest-grossing films]]
* [[List of best-selling manga]]
* [[List of highest-grossing animated films]]

== References ==
<!--This article uses the Cite.php citation mechanism. If you would like more information on how to add references to this article, please see http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cite/Cite.php --> 
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
*Bloom, Clive (2002). ''Bestsellers: Popular Fiction Since 1900''
*Boss, Shira (2007). [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/business/yourmoney/13book.html?pagewanted=all "The Greatest Mystery: Making a Best Seller"], ''The New York Times'', May 13, 2007.
*Feather, John and Woodbridge, Hazel (2007). "Bestsellers in the British Book Industry 1998–2005" ''Publishing Research Quarterly'' Vol. 23, No.3, pp.&nbsp;210–223. doi:10.1007/s12109-007-9013-3
*Miller, Laura J. (2000). "The Best-Seller List as Marketing Tool and Historical Fiction" ''Book History'' Vol. 3, pp.&nbsp;286–304.
*Sorensen, Alan T. (2004). ''Bestseller Lists and Product Variety: The Case of Book Sales''.
*Sutherland, John (2007). ''Bestsellers: a very short introduction, Very short introduction.'' 
*Sutherland, John (2002). ''Reading the decades: fifty years of the nation's bestselling books.''
*Sutherland, John (1981). ''Bestsellers: popular fiction of the 1970s.'' 
*Vanderbilt, Arthur T. (1999). ''The making of a bestseller: from author to reader''.

== External links ==
*[http://bestsellers.lib.virginia.edu The Bestsellers Database], 20th-century American bestsellers compiled by students at the University of Virginia, the University of Illinois, Catholic University (DC), and Brandeis University
*[https://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/bestseller/ ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list (current)]
*[http://www.hawes.com/pastlist.htm Historic New York Times Lists]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120103152518/http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/bestsellers/index.html Publishers Weekly Bestseller List (current)]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090324001330/http://www.caderbooks.com/bestintro.html Publishers Weekly Bestseller Lists from 1900 to 1998]

{{books}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Publishing]]
[[Category:Lists of bestsellers| ]]