The New York Times Unveils Their E-Book Bestseller Lists

PublishersLunch

The NYT's first-ever e-book bestseller lists will appear in print on February 13 and online on February 11 (reflecting rankings for the week ending January 30), as the paper previewed for publishing people at an event this morning.

Not only will the paper publish a separate e-book list, but there will also be a hybrid print and e-book bestseller list. A spokesperson said the paper "wanted to provide more comprehensive lists of which books are selling."

Unlike USA Today's approach, the hydrid lists give no indication of whether e-books outsell print editions; a note on their methodology says only that "until the industry is more settled, sales of e-book titles will not be weighted." (This week, 16 of USA Today's top 50 titles sold more units electronically than in print.)

The new NYT lists also skew predominantly to the biggest publishers. Again, the fine print explains why. Print and e format sales are "reported by venues offering a wide range of general interest titles" but specifically exclude "self-published books including single-vendor self-published titles" as well as these genres: "perennial sellers, required classroom reading, textbooks, reference and test preparation guides, journals, workbooks, calorie counters, shopping guides, comics, crossword puzzles."