pjeby comments on How can I strategically write a complex bestseller? (4HS001) - Less Wrong

13 Post author: Neotenic 12 June 2013 08:47AM

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Comment author: pjeby 15 June 2013 07:47:43PM 0 points [-]

(not sure where your 520 number is coming from).

10 slots on a list times 52 weeks in a year. While the other issues you mention are relevant, they are at least somewhat balanced by there being more than one best seller list in existence, many with a smaller pool of candidates than the NYT list.

Comment author: gwern 15 June 2013 07:54:06PM *  0 points [-]

somewhat balanced by there being more than one best seller list in existence

Somewhat. Not much. There are books that spend months or years on the bestsellers (eg. Fifty Shades of Grey), and just one of these books alone will blow away an entire tenth of the entire pool for that bestseller list - and then there are the sequels or spinoffs or licensees of existing franchises like Star Wars or Star Trek or Dune or Twilight...

many with a smaller pool of candidates than the NYT list.

That's not a point in favor because it means that you will have a hard time getting into those pools. It's only useful if you know in advance that you can get into them.