Seventy-five years after its inception, the New York Times best-seller list will have a new sibling, of sorts. It will begin publishing best seller lists of fiction and non-fiction electronic books. The ebooks will be chosen based on weekly data from publishers, chain bookstores, independent booksellers and online retailers.
Janet Elder, editor of News Surveys for the Times, explains, "It was clear that ebooks were taking a greater and greater share of total sales, and we wanted to be able to tell our readers which titles were selling and how they fit together with print sales."
- Sales of ebooks are expected to hit nearly 1 Billion in the U.S. in 2010 and to triple by 2015
- Amazon Kindle customers are buying digital versions of the top 10 best-selling books more than twice as often as print copies.
What's even better is what it means to authors!
It is not exactly clear from the NY Times press release if the two new lists (non-fiction and fiction ebooks) will be considering self-published books in the calculations. If so, this is going to give self-published ebooks the shot at appearing on a best-sellers list. If authors are able to market successfully and sell massive digital versions of their book during their launch, they can finally compete with the traditional published books for visibility and credibility. It levels the playing field a bit. The old stigma of a self-published book will be replaced with accolades for its content and readership.
Another advantage to this type of recognition is allowing ebook self publishers to reduce the expenses to the author because they will no longer have to produce the printed versions of their books. There will be little need for print on demand or making sure there is enough in stock if you have a booming book launch.
I love the fact that ebooks help authors get their content out quicker than a printed version not to mention saving publishing and distribution expenses for them and the big publishing houses. Add to that the recognition of a NY Times Best Seller list and it makes it even more exciting for the future of books, authors and publishers!
I am anxious to see how this all unfolds.
To read the full press release click here: "NY Times to Publish e-Book Best-Seller List"
Arielle Ford has launched the careers of many NY Times bestselling authors including Deepak Chopra, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Neale Donald Walsch & Debbie Ford. She is a former book publicist, literary agent and the author of seven books. To learn how to get started writing a book please visit: www.HowToWriteMyBook.com