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New York Times Bestseller List

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  • New York Times Bestseller List

    It turns out that the NYT Bestseller list is more editorializing than reporting:

    Source: Dennis Prager

    About half the American people do not believe the mainstream media tell the truth. They believe the media are more interested in promoting their left-wing views than reporting the truth.

    I am, I note with sadness, a member of that half.

    Here is but one more example: The New York Times best-seller list.

    As a writer (who, for the record, had a previous book on that list), I have long known it isn't a best-seller list, and I don't pay attention to it. But I paid attention last week to see if my recently published book, which opened up on Amazon as the second best-selling book in America, was on the list. It wasn't.

    The book, "The Rational Bible: Exodus," the first volume of a five-volume commentary on the first five books of the Bible (the Torah), was No. 2 in nonfiction on The Wall Street Journal best-seller list; No. 2 on the Publishers Weekly nonfiction best-seller list; No. 1 on Ingram, the largest book wholesaler in the country; and, according to Nielson BookScan, the organization that tracks 75 to 85 percent of book sales, No. 2 in hardcover nonfiction.

    In fact, according to Bookscan, it outsold 14 of the 15 books on The New York Times hardcover nonfiction best-seller list. But again, it is not even listed on the New York Times best-seller list.

    I was told years ago that The Times best-seller list almost never includes overtly religious books. I believe it but cannot prove it. I was told The Times doesn't even monitor Christian bookstore sales (though many Christians have bought my commentary, few of its sales thus far have been through Christian bookstores).

    At least as suggestive of bias is that the No. 1 hardcover nonfiction book on the Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly lists, "12 Rules for Life" by Jordan B. Peterson, is also not listed on The New York Times best-seller list.

    Is it a coincidence that Peterson is a conservative, and that I am a conservative and my book is a Bible commentary?

    In order to think it is mere coincidence, you have to believe The New York Times more than reality itself, which about half the country seems to.

    While The Times occasionally lists conservative books and, very rarely, religious books, after comparing the list and the BookScan list, the Observer concluded in 2016: "If you happen to work for The New York Times and have a book out, your book is more likely to stay on the list longer and have a higher ranking than books not written by New York Times employees. ... If you happen to have written a conservative-political-leaning book, you're more likely to be ranked lower and drop off the list faster than those books with a more liberal political slant."

    Link

    © Copyright Original Source

    Enter the Church and wash away your sins. For here there is a hospital and not a court of law. Do not be ashamed to enter the Church; be ashamed when you sin, but not when you repent. – St. John Chrysostom

    Veritas vos Liberabit<>< Learn Greek <>< Look here for an Orthodox Church in America<><Ancient Faith Radio
    sigpic
    I recommend you do not try too hard and ...research as little as possible. Such weighty things give me a headache. - Shunyadragon, Baha'i apologist

  • #2
    Huh, I'm surprised there are people who aren't already aware of this. It's pretty obvious when you look at a bookstore and notice the absurd number of books that are touted as "New York Times Bestseller".
    Some may call me foolish, and some may call me odd
    But I'd rather be a fool in the eyes of man
    Than a fool in the eyes of God


    From "Fools Gold" by Petra

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Mountain Man View Post
      Huh, I'm surprised there are people who aren't already aware of this. It's pretty obvious when you look at a bookstore and notice the absurd number of books that are touted as "New York Times Bestseller".
      This does not follow. Why do you think that is relevant?
      Enter the Church and wash away your sins. For here there is a hospital and not a court of law. Do not be ashamed to enter the Church; be ashamed when you sin, but not when you repent. – St. John Chrysostom

      Veritas vos Liberabit<>< Learn Greek <>< Look here for an Orthodox Church in America<><Ancient Faith Radio
      sigpic
      I recommend you do not try too hard and ...research as little as possible. Such weighty things give me a headache. - Shunyadragon, Baha'i apologist

      Comment


      • #4
        The New York Times best seller list is a marketing tool and nothing more. That was my point. Books are included or not included on the whims of the editors. There is no objective criteria.
        Some may call me foolish, and some may call me odd
        But I'd rather be a fool in the eyes of man
        Than a fool in the eyes of God


        From "Fools Gold" by Petra

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Mountain Man View Post
          The New York Times best seller list is a marketing tool and nothing more. That was my point. Books are included or not included on the whims of the editors. There is no objective criteria.
          Inside information, eh?

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Mountain Man
            The New York Times best seller list is a marketing tool and nothing more. That was my point. Books are included or not included on the whims of the editors. There is no objective criteria.
            Hmmmm, you actually appear to be right, so I’m gonna have to Amen you for that.

            https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_...st_Seller_list

            Comment


            • #7
              Why would anyone believe anything published by the NYT at this point?

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by whag View Post
                Hmmmm, you actually appear to be right, so I’m gonna have to Amen you for that.

                https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_...st_Seller_list
                I appreciate the "amen", but I'm conflicted over the fact that you're supporting my point with a Wikipedia link.

                Some may call me foolish, and some may call me odd
                But I'd rather be a fool in the eyes of man
                Than a fool in the eyes of God


                From "Fools Gold" by Petra

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                  Why would anyone believe anything published by the NYT at this point?
                  Why would anyone believe anything coming from anyone other than Fox, Breitbart, Rush, or the like?

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Mountain Man View Post
                    The New York Times best seller list is a marketing tool and nothing more. That was my point. Books are included or not included on the whims of the editors. There is no objective criteria.
                    MY point is that, regardless of the fact that it is a marketing tool, "Best seller" lists should actually reflect, you know, best sellers. If the NYT was interested in accuracy, it could have done the same sort of marketing by calling it "Editors' Picks" or some such. It still would have gotten plastered all over books.
                    Enter the Church and wash away your sins. For here there is a hospital and not a court of law. Do not be ashamed to enter the Church; be ashamed when you sin, but not when you repent. – St. John Chrysostom

                    Veritas vos Liberabit<>< Learn Greek <>< Look here for an Orthodox Church in America<><Ancient Faith Radio
                    sigpic
                    I recommend you do not try too hard and ...research as little as possible. Such weighty things give me a headache. - Shunyadragon, Baha'i apologist

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by One Bad Pig View Post
                      MY point is that, regardless of the fact that it is a marketing tool, "Best seller" lists should actually reflect, you know, best sellers. If the NYT was interested in accuracy, it could have done the same sort of marketing by calling it "Editors' Picks" or some such. It still would have gotten plastered all over books.
                      "Best Seller" looks better from a marketing standpoint than "Editor's Pick" because it implies a collective opinion versus a single person.
                      Some may call me foolish, and some may call me odd
                      But I'd rather be a fool in the eyes of man
                      Than a fool in the eyes of God


                      From "Fools Gold" by Petra

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by JimL View Post
                        Why would anyone believe anything coming from anyone other than Fox, Breitbart, Rush, or the like?
                        right.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Mountain Man View Post
                          "Best Seller" looks better from a marketing standpoint than "Editor's Pick" because it implies a collective opinion versus a single person.
                          I didn't say "Editor's Pick."
                          Enter the Church and wash away your sins. For here there is a hospital and not a court of law. Do not be ashamed to enter the Church; be ashamed when you sin, but not when you repent. – St. John Chrysostom

                          Veritas vos Liberabit<>< Learn Greek <>< Look here for an Orthodox Church in America<><Ancient Faith Radio
                          sigpic
                          I recommend you do not try too hard and ...research as little as possible. Such weighty things give me a headache. - Shunyadragon, Baha'i apologist

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Serious question - why is a Jewish pro-choice political commentator being sold in Christian bookstores?
                            "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by whag View Post
                              Hmmmm, you actually appear to be right, so I’m gonna have to Amen you for that.

                              https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_...st_Seller_list
                              Eh? Your link says:

                              It is based on weekly sales reports obtained from selected samples of independent and chain bookstores and wholesalers throughout the United States. The sales figures are widely believed to represent books that have actually been sold at retail, rather than wholesale, as the Times surveys booksellers in an attempt to better reflect what is purchased by individual buyers.

                              The implication is that the list is a straight product of objective survey data on sales, rather than being some sort of "here's books we like" list compiled by NYT editors.


                              Originally posted by OBP
                              Source: Dennis Prager
                              The same guy who runs the fake con "university" PragerU? What is it with scumbags and the running of fake universities? I see Trump just settled his con university lawsuit for $25 million.
                              "I hate him passionately", he's "a demonic force" - Tucker Carlson, in private, on Donald Trump
                              "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism" - George Orwell
                              "[Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evils. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy" - Albert Einstein

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