Info about Bestsellers
Bestsellers: Indicating Success through Volume of Sales
Composing a list of best sellers in the book category is indeed a daunting task. First of all what are bestsellers? The best selling list of books is the number of books that are actually sold not the number of books which are printed or which are in the possession of people all over the world. The list is made after studying reliable and independent sources that monitor the sales. However, there may be books which are also sold in high volumes which do not come under the purview of the observation of the reliable and independent sources.
One of way of considering all the books so far sold in the world today is to categorize them on the basis of highest range of numbers sold so far. The one range is books that have over one billion book sale. In this category, the Bible stands first with an estimated 2.5 to more than 6 million books. Among the category of books that witnessed the sale of 100 million to 1 billion the first place goes to The Little Red Book, the quotations of Chairman Mao. It has a whopping 800 million to 900 million copies sales. The Holy Quran had 800 million buyers. Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities sold 200 million copies.
In the category that sold over 50 million to 100 million copies there are many books. The top in the list is The Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe by C.S.Lewis. Rider Hagard’s book, She, first published in 1887 sold 83 million copies. The Petit Prince and The Da Vinci Code sold 80 million copies. In the 30 million to 50 million copies category the toppers are The Hite Report, Charlotte’s Web, The tale of Peter Rabbit and Harry potter. In the category between 20 million and 30 million copies the top sellers are, The Late, Great Planet Earth, Betty Crocker Cookbook, Who Moved My Cheese and The Wind in the Willows.
You might wonder whether the industry sources are trying to hype the number. Though there may be the desire to show a higher number in the long run it is counterproductive. One of the reliable tools to research sales is the Nielsen’s BookScan. BookScan is a service that monitor point-of-sale. They use the weekly data of over 6,500 retail and non-traditional outlets to arrive at fairly accurate statistics.
Many consider the New York Times book list a fairly accurate bestsellers list. The list is prepared from the data weekly sales numbers of some five thousand retailers and wholesalers. It is unlikely that the list is manipulated in any way. The New York Times works on categories called fiction, nonfiction and children’s and the two presentation styles hardcover and paperback.
Though no bestsellers list will be accurate statistics of facts they are close to the truth. The bestsellers list is a great help for those who are avid readers and those who are in charge of selecting books for the libraries.