writing.today.com

Best seller lists are one of my favorite things. They do three useful things:

1. They create buzz about a new author. They encourage Mr. or Ms. Reader (our favorite people in the world) to read.

2. They encourage published authors because it gives them something to aspire to.

3. They give all writers a better idea of what the reading public is hungry to have. Yes, there is a delay between writing and publication, but longer-term trends aren’t invisible. The trends don’t turn on a dime.

A great example of this is vampires. Yes, vampires. Just when everyone is certain that vampires are well and truly dead as a subject, they are, in fact, undead. (I couldn’t resist.) It’s true. And my next novella? You guessed it.

Guessing the trends in publishing is like guessing the trends in the stock market, and trading by just doing what you feel like doing. Good luck with that. In publishing, it’s much easier to just look at what people are actually buying.

There are differences in how various publications report best-sellers, but the same books are usually somewhere on the list.

Bookmark the following and keep an eye on which way the wind in blowing:

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/bestseller/index.html

http://content.usatoday.com/life/books/booksdatabase/default.aspx

http://www.publishersweekly.com/bestsellerslist/2.html?channel=bestsellers

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/bestsellers/home.asp?PID=23276&cds2Pid=17554&linkid=1192760

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/books/bestsellers-list/

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