Colleen Hoover, Crocs, and Bestseller Lists
So what are bestseller lists good for? I mean, I know they’re good for authors and publishers and might give a book a nice zeitgeisty pat on the back, but from a reader’s perspective…what’s the point? Are they “good” for readers? The number of books I’ve read in the past few years that I’d put in the “excellent” category *and* were on some sort of bestseller list is minuscule. #venndiagram
But of course I scan bestseller lists and pay attention to them: Fiction (both paperback and hardcover) and Nonfiction (ditto), but everything else, to me, is like one blurry amalgam of “other.” Personally, I like what the Boston Globe, Seattle Times, and probably every other large local newspaper does, which is rank bestsellers according to what sells at independent bookstores in the area. They still rely on Bookscan (which is like what Nielsen is for TV and, actually, Bookscan used to be owned by Nielsen), but the sample population is hyper localized.
But back to my point about them obviously being good for authors. James Patterson cares! He has over 114 bestselling novels! Go into any vacation rental and you will likely see over 20 of them with their faded covers and cracked spines! But his latest, Walk the Blue Line: No Right, No Left — Just Cops Telling Their True Stories to James Patterson, has not made the NYT bestseller list which does not square up with his analysis of Bookscan data and ergo the list is “cooked!” Maybe he’s right. After all, this LitHub write-up mentions YA novel Handbook for Mortals by Lani Sarem that somehow “bought” a place on the NYT list in 2017.
I don’t really know what I’m saying here except 1) Readers, take the wheel; and 2) Take a gander through the stacks once in a while without a “destination” in mind because if you’re just relying on what bestseller lists tell you to read and are still left unsatisfied, let’s consider the strange fact that Crocs are on a third (?) comeback. (But whatever, check out my “new” house shoes! These are holdovers from Crocs’ second wave around 2018 and a child who decided that no, he didn’t want them.)
Bestsellers and Crocs: Do we like ‘em because we like ‘em or have we been #influenced🤔
originally published on instagram