What Fiction are you reading this week, Jan. 17, 2021? [View all]

I know the feeling...

Lock Every Door is a thriller from New York Times bestselling author Riley Sager. I'm about halfway through and it certainly is suspenseful, sometimes. Then sometimes it has me wondering if Mr. Sager got paid by the word for this one as a lot of the words seem superfluous. This book definitely doesn't fall under the "literary" genre. That doesn't necessarily mean it's not a good book, but it did got me wondering what exactly being a New York Times bestseller really meant. So, I looked it up.

No one knows exactly how this (list) is compiled, but large publishers know certain things about getting onto the list, and that’s why you find many of the large publishers’ books on there. It is a well-known fact among publishers that the New York Times gets its book sales data from a scattered few bookstores (like the Nielsen’s) and it doesn’t take into account the actual sales of the books (which Amazon.com does in order to rank), but how many books were shipped to these particular sampling of stores in anticipation of sales.
The New York Times list heavily counts sales in select brick-and-mortar stores, so if your books aren’t in these particular bookstores, then chances of making the New York Times bestseller list are minimal.

https://www.fastcompany.com/1813678/what-being-bestselling-author-really-means

Well, that's good to know. Anyway, I'll see this one through to the end and let you know next week how it turns out.

Listening to Silent Bite by David Rosenfelt, the 22nd Andy Carpenter novel. This one is equal parts mystery and Christmas holiday cheer. I had hoped to get it sooner but had to wait my turn on the library list. I really enjoy when Andy is arguing a case in court. He is such a wit.

What books are you enjoying this week? Best wishes to everyone. Stay safe.