The New York Times Best Seller list Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Composition== The list is compiled by the editors of the "News Surveys" department, not by ''The New York Times Book Review'' department, where it is published.<ref name=pierleoni/> It is based on weekly sales reports obtained from selected samples of independent and chain bookstores and wholesalers throughout the United States.<ref name=pierleoni/> The sales figures are widely believed to represent books that have actually been sold at retail, rather than wholesale,<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B03E0D61438F93AA1575BC0A965948260 "Blatty Sue Times on Best-Seller List"], from ''[[The New York Times]]'', August 29, 1983.</ref> as the ''Times'' surveys booksellers in an attempt to better reflect what is purchased by individual buyers. Some books are flagged with a [[Dagger (typography)|dagger]] indicating that a significant number of bulk orders had been received by retail bookstores.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/combined-print-and-e-book-nonfiction/list.html|work=The New York Times|title=Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction - Best Sellers - Books }}</ref> ''The New York Times'' reported in 2013 that "we [generally do not] track the sales of classic literature," and thus, for example, new translations of [[Dante's Inferno|Dante's ''Inferno'']] would not be found on the bestseller list.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/books/review/inside-the-list.html |url-access=subscription |title=Inside the List |work=The New York Times Book Review |author=Cowles, Gregory |date=June 2, 2013 |access-date=June 5, 2013}}</ref> The exact method for compiling the data obtained from the booksellers is classified as a [[trade secret]].<ref name=diamond/> Book Review staff editor Gregory Cowles explained the method "is a secret both to protect our product and to make sure people can't try to rig the system. Even in the Book Review itself, we don't know (the news surveys department's) precise methods."<ref name=pierleoni>{{cite news|author= Pierleoni, Allen|url= http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/22/4203094/best-sellers-lists-how-they-work.html|title= Best-sellers lists: How they work and who they (mostly) work for|work= The Sacramento Bee|date= January 22, 2012|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120125082356/http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/22/4203094/best-sellers-lists-how-they-work.html|archive-date= January 25, 2012}}</ref> In 1992, the survey encompassed over 3,000 bookstores as well as "representative wholesalers with more than 28,000 other retail outlets, including variety stores and supermarkets."<ref name=diamond>{{cite book| author=Diamond, Edwin |date=1995| title=Behind the Times: Inside the New ''New York Times''| publisher=University of Chicago Press | url= https://archive.org/details/behindtimesinsid00diam | url-access=registration |page =[https://archive.org/details/behindtimesinsid00diam/page/364 364]|isbn=9780679418771}}</ref> By 2004, the number was 4,000 bookstores as well as an unstated number of wholesalers.<ref name=miller/> Data is adjusted to give more weight to independent book stores, which are underrepresented in the sample.<ref name=miller/> The lists are divided among [[fiction]] and [[nonfiction]], print and e-book, paperback and hardcover; each list contains 15 to 20 titles. The lists have been subdivided several times. "Advice, How-To, and Miscellaneous" debuted as a list of five on January 1, 1984. It was created because advice best-sellers were sometimes crowding the general nonfiction list.<ref>{{cite news|title=TBR: Inside the list|work=The New York Times|date= February 24, 2008| page= BR26}}</ref> Its inaugural number one bestseller, ''The Body Principal'' by [[Victoria Principal]], had been number 10 and number 12 on the nonfiction lists for the two preceding weeks.<ref>{{cite news|title=The New York Times Book Review Best Sellers| work=The New York Times|date= January 1, 1984| page =BR28}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Best Sellers|work=The New York Times|date= December 25, 1983| page =BR13}}</ref> In July 2000, the "Children's Best Sellers" was created after the [[Harry Potter]] series had stayed in the top spots on the fiction list for an extended period of time.<ref>{{cite web|website=riverdeep.net|url=http://www.riverdeep.net/current/2001/11/111201t_top10.jhtml|title=Bestseller Math|date=November 12, 2001|access-date=July 23, 2007|archive-date=May 18, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518042101/http://www.riverdeep.net/current/2001/11/111201t_top10.jhtml|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Smith|first=Dinitia|author-link=Dinitia Smith|date=June 24, 2000|title=The Times Plans a Children's Best-Seller List|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/24/books/the-times-plans-a-children-s-best-seller-list.html|url-status=live|work=[[The New York Times]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105092738/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/24/books/the-times-plans-a-children-s-best-seller-list.html|archive-date=November 5, 2019|access-date=February 13, 2023|url-access=limited}}</ref> The children's list was printed monthly until February 13, 2011, when it was changed to once an issue (weekly). In September 2007, the paperback fiction list was divided into [[Paperback#trp|"trade"]] and [[Paperback#mmp|"mass-market"]] sections, in order to give more visibility to the trade paperbacks that were more often reviewed by the newspaper itself.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Up Front |magazine=[[The New York Times Book Review]] |page=4 |date=September 23, 2007 |quote=it gives more emphasis on the literary novels and short-story collections reviewed so often in our pages }}</ref> In November 2010, ''The New York Times'' announced it would be tracking [[e-book]] best-seller lists in fiction and nonfiction starting in early 2011.<ref name=ebook>{{cite news|author=Bosman, Julie |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/books/11list.html |title=''Times'' Will Rank E-Book Best Sellers| work=The New York Times|date= November 10, 2010}}</ref> "RoyaltyShare, a San Diego-based company that tracks data and aggregates sales information for publishers, will ... provide [e-book] data".<ref name=ebook/> The two new e-book lists were first published with the February 13, 2011, issue, the first tracks combined print and e-book sales, the second tracks e-book sales only (both lists are further sub-divided into Fiction and Nonfiction). In addition a third new list was published on the web only, which tracks combined print sales (hardcover and paperback) in fiction and nonfiction. On December 16, 2012, the children's chapter books list was divided into two new lists: middle-grade (ages 8β12) and young adult (age 12β18), both which include sales across all platforms (hard, paper and e-book). Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page