Best Seller Lists
Check best seller lists to see what’s hot and what’s not. The first best seller list that probably comes to mind is the New York Times bestseller list. The lists are divided into Hardcover Fiction, Hardcover Nonfiction, Hardcover Advice, Children’s Picture, Paperback Fiction, Paperback Nonfiction, Paperback Advice and Business Books.
Take a look at the current best sellers and best sellers of the past. What is the current trend? Obviously these are the types of books people want or they wouldn’t be on the best seller list. Do you notice any patterns here that you might be able to take advantage of? Of course, you will have to be quick if you want to cash in on the current trends as they won’t last forever. If you wait too long the trend will be over by the time your book gets to print. You can also take note of patterns in people’s buying behaviors. Is there a topic you could write about that won’t just be a trend or fad and possibly have a long life span?
The New York Times isn’t the only place to look at the best sellers. Here are some other places to take a look:
USA Today’s Best-Selling Books Database
Bestseller Lists from 1900-1995
Publisher’s Weekly Best Seller List
The nice thing about Amazon.com is you can browse books by category and then sort them by best selling books first. This way you can explore more obscure categories that will probably never make their way to the larger best seller lists such as New York Times, etc. Some categories on Amazon.com will not display best sellers. On Barnes & Noble’s web site at you can check out the best sellers in any and all categories.