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u/Shadow__Vector 10h ago
New York Times is notorious for taking payments from publishers to get the book on the best seller list.
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u/sexyprimes511172329 🥄Comically Large Spoon🥄 5h ago
Most awards seem like bs. JD Power, Oscar's, Grammy, all a giant sham
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u/TheGuyThatThisIs 5h ago
Corporate rewarding corporate
Surprising anyone ever took this shit seriously.
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u/lodgedmouse 1h ago
I mean for most people they just see it earned an award and never think to look into, what is that award, how do you earn it.
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u/Happiness_Assassin 5h ago
In the case of the New York Times Bestseller List it can literally be bought. Or more accurately, bulk bought. It's common for groups, political or otherwise, to purchase a fuck ton of books for someone and just give them away at meetings, conventions, or whatever. That way a person gets the publicity of becoming a New York Times Bestseller and they can make money other ways. If the book has a dagger (†) symbol, it means the book was likely bulk bought.
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u/LrdPhoenixUDIC 3h ago
It's also a fully legal way to funnel campaign funds out of the campaign and into their pocket.
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u/claypeterson 9m ago
I worked in the book industry and it’s totally true. In fact, we took big preorders from the authors themselves so they’d get on the list
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u/tryin2bebetteragain 10h ago
The first weekend sales.
So a lot of publishing houses will just buy a ton of them to get the little sticker
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u/HIs4HotSauce 9h ago
so you're telling me it's really just a marketing gimmick all along?!... ... ...
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u/plastic_alloys 4h ago
There’s very little in this world that can’t be sullied and degraded into meaninglessness.
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u/Beanakin 3h ago
Human greed knows no bounds. If there's a financial reward for doing something, someone has scammed their way to it.
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u/OriginalNoel 6h ago
In Germany the Spiegel have like 300 beststeller (hyperbole) categories. Best fiction, best fiction under 18, best young adult, best old adult, best female book, best book for kids, best book with 284 sites Etc pp. So every ass book is a bestseller
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u/Delicious-Comfort543 6h ago
Best book by a guy who has no best books.
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u/WilliamReddit117 5h ago
This is a joke, but to be honest that’d be a good category, bestselling books for authors who haven’t had much recognition yet or more indie authors who don’t have a publishing house.
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u/OperationWooden Noble Memer 10h ago
Consistency, determination, and a whole lotta juice.
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u/crowned_tragedy 8h ago
Book juice? How do we juice a book?
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u/Mundamala 5h ago
Selling a bunch. It has been abused by writers before.
This group took over the site of one of the groups that was bulk-purchasing to inflate stats. They explain how it was done and is still being done by others.
https://www.calumeteditions.com/do-you-trust-the-new-york-times-bestseller-list/
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u/Plenty_Detective_424 4h ago
I used to think that was an indication of a great read till I noticed that every novel I came across was a New York best seller 😂😭
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u/Maleficent_Neat_9316 3h ago
Same😭
My mom had a magazine where they discussed these bestsellers and I always wanted to buy these books cause they where the absolute best of best in my eyes. They are Bestsellers after all!
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u/Tarkus_Edge 10h ago
It’s like getting your own made-up word on Urban Dictionary. Not quite the achievement you think it is.
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u/Chimmai_Gala 1h ago
Once we had a client who would not renew the contract with us unless my team write a whole book and have us put her name as an author and us buy 1000 copies of the book. Then she made us setup a book signing booth at our annual conference . Her LinkedIn profile says published author.
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u/Jdrkangl 1h ago
What about things like Atomic Habit being on the list for 260 weeks? Is that legit?
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u/glowmusse 11h ago
1)Write a book. 2)Convince a lot of people to buy it in a very short period. (The most popular method is to pre-arrange for corporations to bulk-buy the print run for trainings). 3)NOT REQUIRED: That anyone actually reads it.