Do Indie Lists Really Matter?

Booksellers respond to Lisa Scottoline's question about how the ABA compiles its bestseller list.

By Judith Rosen -- Publishers Weekly, 6/17/2009 7:09:00 AM

When writer and Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Lisa Scottoline (Look Again) asked who she had to sleep with to get on the Indie Bestsellers Lists at the opening panel of the day of education at BEA, she pointed up what some consider to be a flaw in the American Booksellers Association’s bestsellers list: it is weighted so that it doesn’t reflect raw sales. Although Scottoline has over 25 million copies of her books in print and has hit many bestseller lists—including The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly—she has yet to appear on the Indie list. This despite touring to independent bookstores and offering a special co-op promotion in the spring for her local New Atlantic Independent Booksellers.

According to ABA chief marketing officer Meg Smith, at the time the ABA board developed the Indie Bestseller Lists a decade ago, it was looking for a way to show book sales across the entire network of indie stores. “Each sales placement within each store is given a point value. Those values are combined to create the list,” she explained.

For smaller independents like 16-year-old Island Books in Middletown, R.I., the formula works. “I think it is much more meaningful that 30 stores sold 20 copies of a title than that three stores sold 200 copies of another,” said owner Judy Crosby. “And I think those 30 will continue to sell their title at the same level than the other three, making for a more consistent list.”

Like many booksellers, Ed Conklin, buyer at Chaucer’s Books in Santa Barbara, Calif., never paid much attention to how the indie lists were compiled. “I give cursory attention to all bestsellers lists,” he said. “To be sure my radar is tuned. If I have a pet book, I take pleasure in finding it.” Over the past six months, Conklin nominated two pets, Little Bee and All the Living, for Indie Next, a monthly list of upcoming books. The number one title on this list received the most bookseller nominations; the other books are in no particular order.

“I was happy that my books may have gotten even a tiny bit of extra attention,” said Conklin. “But I am not sure how much it translates into sales.” Sales are a key concern for Roberta Rubin, owner of The Bookstall at Chestnut Court in Winnetka, Ill., as well. “I am for anything that can help independents improve our image and our sales,” said Rubin. “Between the Chicagoland and The New York Times Bestseller Lists, the ABA lists and our own newsletter lists, I have to hope that we can sway the customer to shop in our store and not at Amazon with a Kindle.”

Over the next few months, Smith said, the ABA’s methodology will come under periodic review and the way the lists are compiled could change. In the end, although the term “bestseller” may be a misnomer, how the ABA tallies its lists may not really matter. After all, when it comes to sales, as Rubin points out, “lists are lists only. Handselling is more dependable.”