In this video, I do a deep dive into the New York Times Bestseller list, talking about the prestige of the list, as well as the potential dilution of the value of the list.
With all the online hype these days, it's hard to know what's going to be a good book, besides actually reading a sample of it. Perhaps a review video of some substance.
So many great videos this week! I always assumed the NYT categories were purely genre based, so it's interesting to learn there's a lot of overlap with the hardcover/paperback categories.
According to every bestseller or extremely popular book recommended to me, the ratio has been 8 out of 10 in terms of just “meh” to “disappointing.” I usually hear high praises for books and based on that ratio, skip them and read them down the road years later because they seem like the type of books for casual readers with little to no experience in a specific genre. So to them, they are amazing, but to me, just okay.
I find the same with most self-published books I've read. They are just terrible, but today anyone can just push out a book and say they are a published author.
Same goes if an author had at least one book go to #1 on the list. Then you see the big #1 on every book they write after that even if they never have another book hit #1. It looks great on the shelf to an observer, but a lot of times the smaller print will say "bestselling author", then you realize oh, ok, so not this book.
Well one of my favourite horror authors is Bentley Little, and he has been pretty consistent with his out put over the decades. I might be wrong but I don't think any of his books have been a New York Times best seller. He is the winner of the Bram Stoker Award.
