"The International Number One Bestseller"

[bungeejumper]

Dear Mr Bragg, I would be very grateful for your advice. I have been buying books with the "International Number One Bestseller" logo on their covers for a couple of years now, because I always feel a little bit guilty about how little reading I normally manage to do, and I am very anxious to keep up with literary fashions in case I should ever get cornered at a dinner party. Thus confessing to the whole world the lamentable fact that I do not have the time to read twelve books a week like everybody else.

I do, however, have a fortnight's holiday coming up, and I am wondering where to start with the 7,228 unread international bestseller books that have now completely buried my bookshelf, and indeed the room in which it stands. Since they are all international number one bestsellers, I confess that I am at a loss to know where to start. Would a simple A to Z author approach work best? Is an "incomparable dynastic blockbuster" preferable to "a book that will change your life"? Does "now a major film starring Scarlett Johansson" trump them both? Or should I just dump the lot and read Harry Potter?

And where, please, are all these "international number one bestseller" lists compiled? I notice, for example, that Bruce Springsteen's autobiography topped the US, UK and Canadian lists for a while, but I am fairly sure that it didn't sell too many copies in China or India, or in countries where the Koran consistently tops the charts. Is there, in fact, any meaning to that "international bestseller" tag at all?

Many thanks

BJ

[AleisterCrowley]

Billy, or Melvyn?

[carrie80]

This reminds me of a book recently thrown off the NY Bestseller YA list for gaming the system. It was a bizarre story, with various minor celebrity connections and a twitter driven investigation, after YA authors and bloggers noticed weird signs like the lack of any reviews or copies in stock.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/ ... llers-list

[UncleIan]

Is there, in fact, any meaning to that "international bestseller" tag at all?

It's marketing puff. And doesn't even necessarily refer to that book, but that the author is an international bestseller, i.e. they've had a bestseller somewhere in the world.

As to who compiles the lists, Nielsen BookScan does a fair few...

"Nielsen Book Research is the world’s largest continuous book sales
tracking service operating in the UK, Ireland, Australia, US, South Africa,
Italy, Spain, New Zealand, India, Brazil and Mexico"

http://www.nielsenbookscan.co.uk/

[UncleEbenezer]

A book that happens to be an international bestseller may be acceptable.

But a book whose cover screams "International Bestseller" isn't. That's a warning sign. Just Say No.

I'll get me coat. Which definitely came without any of those warning signs, like as seen on TV.