Date: Wed, 08 May 2002 22:26:51 -0400
From: Steve Smith <sgs at aginc.net>
To: WSFA List <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] SF and the Bestseller Lists
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

The Washington Post has an interesting article on SF (and other genre
literature) in relation to the "bestseller lists".  Basically, the
current "bestseller lists" are compiled from sales at selected "elite"
bookstores. They don't reflect popular tastes, and they're not intended
to.

This may be about to change.  There is a new book sales tracking system
called  Bookscan.  This will let people track the actual nationwide
sales of books, instead of sales at just a few stores.  While it's
really intended for publishers, they expect the bestseller lists to
become a lot more populist.

When a similar system called Soundscan for tracking music sales was
introduced, it caused a major shakeup in the music business.
Traditional "top 40" had ignored country and rap, which turned out to be
major market segments.

Anyway, it may get interesting.  The article is at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24656-2002May2.html

--
Steve Smith                                           sgs at aginc.net
Agincourt Computing                            http://www.aginc.net
"Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense."