New York Times Bestselling Authors

New York Times Bestselling Authors

New York Times Bestselling Authors

Bestseller lists are an essential part of the publishing industry because they help readers, publishers, and authors to know which books are successful. For publishers and authors, bestseller lists help track trends in popularity. For readers, the lists help determine which books are worth spending money on, and which should be passed in favor of another.

Beginnings

The bestseller list originated with Harvey Thurston Peck and was published in a publication called Bookman in 1895. Peck concerned himself only with fiction works. It wasn't until Publishers Weekly began a bestseller list in 1912 that non-fiction works were thrown into the mix. Since then, bestseller lists have continued to grow and evolve and are published by many major newspapers including USA Today and The New York Times.