The New York Times Will Feature Two Seperate Bestsellers Lists for Middle Grade & YA
December 07, 2012
The New York Times has implemented some major changes to its bestseller lists. From now on, the publication will feature two separate lists; one for Middle Grade and one for Young Adult. The picture book list will continue to solely examine titles in hardcover format.
"Though we know the times is now tracking hardcover, paperback and e-book sales for each title, it’s also unclear how the sales are weighted (and the Times guards their formula closely). The biggest question in this regard are about e-books. Are they tracking self-published books that are categorized as YA or MG? Does the price of the book effect the weighting? Could a publisher put an e-book on sale and watch their book jump onto the list? Making the list has always had an element of gamesmanship (colleagues and I like to joke about which book will magically land in the #10 spot, oftentimes despite dismal sales), but I think we’re in for an intense period of experimentation to see how e-book sales impact recognition."