Have you ever wondered how books get onto the New York Times bestsellers list? One would think that the books that sell the most are the ones that go on that list, or perhaps, books that have made an impact on a greater scale and thus, spurred people to buy them and read them. But one thing is for certain, bestsellers are made, they don't just happen. And this was something that Sy Montgomery, a 65-year-old freelance writer who had dreamed of having one of her books listed on that illustrious NYT bestsellers list, had discovered.
Much like the Oscars, there's a lot of promotions and marketing involved in order for books to get attention. Publishers would usually be the ones pushing to have certain books considered as a bestseller. And then, the Times would have to track the sales data for those books so that they can find out which will be the bestsellers. The secret however, lies in the network of shops and bookstores that the Times uses as reference. Nobody knows which bookstores will be tracked.
But there is a way to get around the system and increase one's chances of making it onto the list. Data scientists have looked into the patterns based on eight years of NYT bestsellers to gain insight on what is the recipe for success in making a book into a bestseller. Check it out on The Hustle.
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