What You Can Learn from Best Seller Lists

Every so often, I like to peruse the best seller lists.

Just put “best seller lists” into Google and start clicking.

I study them for titles. Want to come up with a great title for your book? (Or any product, for that matter.) Peruse the best seller lists (and get my Special Report, How to Choose Your Best Selling Title.)

Today, however, I noticed something interesting on the Amazon best seller list. Several of the top titles have not even been released! Of course, those were books by well-known authors (Stephen King, James Patterson, Sarah Palin).  Their rank is based on how many stores pre-ordered the book.  Because they have a huge following already, their books are virtually guaranteed to get on the best seller lists. It’s all about followers…

Aside from titles, you can see what’s selling overall at any given moment. For this, go to a general list such as the Amazon list or the USA Today best seller list. Looks like this week, fiction is tops. (Take heart, novelists!)

You can track over time which books stay on the lists. The book, The Five Love Languages, has topped the best seller lists for years. The author, Gary Chapman, has quite a marketing thing going

If you’re researching if there are any other books out there like yours (as I was, for a client), go to a list that breaks titles out by category (hardcover fiction, nonfiction etc.). This is important if you’re working on a book proposal and need to come up a with books like yours for the comparative analysis section. (If  you’re not sure how to put together a book proposal, contact me for guidance.)

So every so often, check out the best seller lists. You’ll learn lots about the current state of book publishing.