Comments on: USA Today Bestseller List, Week Ending November 4, 2007

By: jojo schroeder

jojo schroeder — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:01:49 +0000

hi jane,
i think you mentioned that you were looking for contemporary romance, and i’d like to recommend my book, “Forks in the Flowerpots.” it’s a little bit noir, but tongue in cheek, fast, romantic, sexy and you’ll want to “see what happens next.”
it’s available from all the usual suspects on line, or can be ordered from the publisher, blue mustang press, or if it’s easier, your local bookstore can order it for you.
if you do read it, please let me know what you think. i’d love the feedback. My next contemporary romance will be out soon.
enjoy.
jojo

By: Whatever-ishere

Whatever-ishere — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:16:28 +0000

thanks for the GREAT post! Very useful…

By: Julia Quinn

Julia Quinn — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 15:46:47 +0000

Hi Jane–

Because the USA Today list includes all formats of books, it becomes difficult to hit high as the holiday season approaches. Gift books start to dominate, and generally speaking, romances aren’t considered gift books.

But the NYT divvies the list up, so that the romance titles are only competing against paperback fiction (and now only mass market titles.) There are few hot gift books in this category, so the odds of romances charting on the NYT remains pretty much unchanged. The USAT, however is a different story.

Best,
JQ

By: Jane

Jane — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 03:47:25 +0000

The NYT list is an “opinion” of the bestsellers, rather than an actual depiction of what is really selling. (They recently dropped Night by Elie Wiesel because it wasn’t fresh enough even if it was selling better than other books). I blogged about that here.

The Times is a powerful list though. Dr. Sorensen who studies this stuff says that a first timer can experience a 57% increase in sales. I also think that it is self predictive – meaning that if you get on the list, you are more likely to be on the list in the future.

By: Brenna

Brenna — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:55:04 +0000

I think I'm higher on the NYT because they gave a couple more days to tally sales, whereas USA ended on 11-4. Just a guess, though; all this is new to me.

Another reason would be that the NYT Times Bestseller breaks down their list by what format the book is released, hardcover, paperback, etc and whether it is fiction, non-fiction, etc.. USA Today does not do that. All books are not categorized at all, just based on the number of books sold, I think. Hence, it is always easier to get a bestseller spot in the NYT List than USA Today IMO because the competition is narrowed down. I much prefer to look at USA Today list than the NYT though lots of authors prefer to quote their NYT Bestseller status more than USA Today w/c is not surprising.

By: Jeaniene Frost

Jeaniene Frost — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 23:59:36 +0000

I think I’m higher on the NYT because they gave a couple more days to tally sales, whereas USA ended on 11-4. Just a guess, though; all this is new to me :)

By: Jennifer Ashley

Jennifer Ashley — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 20:38:45 +0000

Jane says: “Out of the list: Cut Throat, Sharon Sala (Mira), $7.99, No. 59 (debut).”

Sharon Sala is still there at number 113. Caught my eye as I was glancing over list.

By: Stacey Bruen

Stacey Bruen — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 20:06:39 +0000

Deanna Favre’s book will be No. 13 on the NY Times list on Nov. 18. It’s a little more than word of mouth as she’s been everywhere. It was the Deanna Favre show on Monday Night Football two weeks ago, she was on Good Morning America with Robin Roberts, Greta VanSusteren’s show, Mike&Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio and a number of other ESPN shows. She’s gotten a lot of publicity for the book. Top 150 on the USA Today list is solid because it’s a hardcover competing aginst the cheaper softcover books.