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Harry Potter and the List of Best Sellers
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From: HUMMINGRK at aol.com <HUMMINGRK>
Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2000 23:11:34 EDT
I usually try to limit my comments on CCBC-Net to positive, constructive criticism, but on this topice there is no doubt, no possibility of my playing nice. Ginny brought up a good point: Absolutely, yes. The New York Times best seller list is bowing to pressure by removing the J.K. Rownling books from its list and, in so doing, slighting children's books.
I read the Time's Book Review section each Sunday; they dropped weekly discussions of children's books a couple of years ago and now relegate the four best-selling books to a non-list.
Interesting side note regarding the NYT list: The New York Times business section ran an article a week or two ago about an agent who purchased 18,000 copies of "his" writer's book from a variety of NY bookstores with faxed instructions on which date to register the sale in an effort to influence the numbers. Is the list a political game or an accurate assesment of the popularity of particular books? If it is the latter, Harry Potter should have stayed.
Lee Sullivan Hill Clarendon Hills, Illinois
Received on Tue 05 Sep 2000 10:11:34 PM CDT
Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2000 23:11:34 EDT
I usually try to limit my comments on CCBC-Net to positive, constructive criticism, but on this topice there is no doubt, no possibility of my playing nice. Ginny brought up a good point: Absolutely, yes. The New York Times best seller list is bowing to pressure by removing the J.K. Rownling books from its list and, in so doing, slighting children's books.
I read the Time's Book Review section each Sunday; they dropped weekly discussions of children's books a couple of years ago and now relegate the four best-selling books to a non-list.
Interesting side note regarding the NYT list: The New York Times business section ran an article a week or two ago about an agent who purchased 18,000 copies of "his" writer's book from a variety of NY bookstores with faxed instructions on which date to register the sale in an effort to influence the numbers. Is the list a political game or an accurate assesment of the popularity of particular books? If it is the latter, Harry Potter should have stayed.
Lee Sullivan Hill Clarendon Hills, Illinois
Received on Tue 05 Sep 2000 10:11:34 PM CDT
