Look, this is a stupid bug in their algorithm, and will probably be fixed at some point. Or perhaps the label falls off during hour number 2 when nobody is buying it. There are other ways to hack the Amazon publishing system, like Tim Ferris did when he sent free copies of his book out to people so that they would leave reviews when it went on sale. Does it really matter?
How is it a bug in their algorithm? If anything it's a bug in their process. OP found a niche category with so little competition that it was simple to legitimately become the best-selling author by virtue of having the best-selling book (over some time period) in that category?
I agree with him that the title is meaningless, but it's not necessarily inaccurate. What Amazon needs to do - that is, if they care about the 'validity' of the best-seller title - is better vet submissions and purchases. One person purchasing multiple copies should probably only count as one purchase for the sake of this distinction, although that might hurt small retailers that buy from Amazon directly.
I see this as not much different than claiming you're a World Record Holder because you stacked the most pennies on your big toe (it was 21, for the record).
You don't want people to start questioning your brand (Amazon Best Seller in this case). We all know that World Record Holder doesn't mean much on its own. You have to specify whether it was most pennies stacked on a toe, biggest soap bubble, etc. What TFA points out is pretty much that the title Amazon Best Seller is useless without specifying a category, or possibly not at all.
Now, with the advent of Amazon, anyone can be a best seller based on very fine grained categories (as shown here) but claim the same accolades based on the title of Best Selling Author. A lot of people accept the title at face value. Over time, this shifts the power from the traditional lists to Amazon since Amazon has most of the power in determining who gets a "best seller" label and at what granularity.
I think this is what the author is really concerned about. In the article he mentions his job consists of working with authors to promote their books and their metric of success is aiming for the NYT best seller's list. If that list loses its value and the cache of being a NYT Best Selling Author decreases, then the author's value add to an individual author is diminished thereby threatening his underlying business model as it stands now.
It's not a bug at all, it behooves both parties that this occurs. The seller will sell more books appearing to be reputable, and amazon makes more money because they are selling more product. It's really a buyer beware tale if anything, online retailers are becoming 'used car salesmen' of the 21st century.
"Amazon Bestseller" and "Top 500 Reviewer" are concepts that form a large part of Amazon's brand and value proposition. Regardless of whether this is a bug that can be quickly patched, they should pay more attention to things like this IMHO.
[0]: http://www.evanmiller.org/how-not-to-sort-by-average-rating.... [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9855784
I don't think its actually a bug, it's just the way Amazon sales rank works.
http://onlinesalesstepbystep.com/rank-risk-reward/
"I can define Amazon sales rank in one sentence:
“The period of time since an item last sold.”
That’s it
What does that mean? It means that starting from one hour after an item sells, its rank will start to rise until it sells again. The longer the gap between sales, the higher its sales rank grows. When the product sells again, it will drop significantly and then begin to rise again an hour later."
https://sellerengine.com/top-5-things-you-need-to-know-about...
"2. Current Sales Rank CAN’T Tell You How Well an Item is Selling
Because of the huge swings that sales rank can undergo (see the previous graph), looking at a single data point can’t tell you how well an item is selling. A low sales rank (one that is close to 1), can trick you into thinking an item is a longtime popular seller, when actually, that item was just sold.
To make accurate guesses about how fast an item is selling, you need to look at multiple data points and see how an item’s sales rank trends over time."
All products on Amazon have a sales rank, not just books. I'm not really sure of the reason for publishing it but it isn't supposed to be scientific or anything (the exact algorithm is not disclosed). All categories have a sales rank and a best seller list, no matter how obscure and the sales rank has worked this way forever. Why? I don't know.
That's not a hack, that's a value-add. https://www.amazon.com/gp/vine/help
I pay no attention to "best seller" labels...
I realized quite some time back that my reading time is far more limited than I would like for it to be...I intend to spend the time I do have reading the best I can get my hands on...
When looking for a good read I most certainly do not start at Amazon...
Rather, I look through lists of the major literary prize winners and select something from them...
Pulitzer Prize Winners, National Book Award winners, Pen Faulkner Award for Fiction winners, Man Booker Prize winners...just to name a few...
I've yet to be disappointed, even when the topics are somewhat outside my everyday interests and hobbies...
A list of the major awards:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_literary_awards#Americ...
There's something there for every taste...and you'll benefit from knowing that someone took a great deal of time and care with their efforts...someone writing seriously...
PS
I enjoy your very zen use of ellipses.
Softens everything you say...and makes things flow together nicely...also gives space for people to think their own thoughts...
As readers we have to come to terms with the fact that we will miss out on many good books, there just isn't enough time to read them all in a lifetime. I decided stop reading the ones that aren't that interesting to me after reading (roughly) 30%-40%[1] of the book. If after this it hasn't grabbed my interest then it just isn't my kind of book, at least in my experience. Will I miss out on the rare book that gets its act together after the 60% mark? Sure, but in my experience those are very rare and I'd rather miss out on them than spend the remaining time chasing the elusive "it gets really good after the 60% mark" books.
> I've yet to be disappointed, even when the topics are somewhat outside my everyday interests and hobbies...
My experience has been the opposite of this. I have found a lot of duds in those lists (I'm talking about fiction books specifically)...
[1] All percentages are approximations.
I'm forced to make choices like that, myself...sadly...a chance to grow as a person--who knows what knocks at our door at any given time?
That's fair...we all get to choose what we read...
Some great works are "insiders"...the writers received the award because other writers understood the difficulty of what was being attempted...and appreciated the effort...
Some works are deeply steeped in, and influenced by, literary theory...they're highly technical, even obtuse to the layman, but other writers "get it"...they're often not "popular" for that reason...
And often they have the most to offer...
So far no one has gotten bent out of shape about it (or maybe no one has looked at my resume), I assume because they're smart enough to know that a "best selling" data science book is not on the NYT list outselling Stephen King and 50 Shades of Gray and Hunger Games, it's bestselling among "Books / Computers / Data & Data Analytics" or whatever.
Having put my bias on the table, I have a hard time getting worked up about what this guy did, for the following reason:
"Whoa, you're a bestselling author? What did you write?" "It's not a book, it's a picture of my foot." "Oh. That's kind of strange. How many copies did it sell?" "Three." "..."
I mean, it's not like there's some kind of special club where "best selling author" allows you to cut in line or anything. Is there? If there is, please let me know.
My first pass through was a while back, but I still find myself going back to the example code for quick refreshers about key concepts.
> Brent Underwood is the No. 1 best-selling author of Putting My Foot Down and a ...
>> "Author’s update: Since writing this piece and making my debut, my book has inexplicably been removed from the Amazon catalogue. I have yet to hear from an Amazon representative on the matter, but it is clear that something is afoot."
I literally cried from laughing several times as I was reading.
Can you start a companion series titled, "On the Other Hand: An Exploration of Misplaced Gloves"?
>I wrote this post because I’m tired of vanity titles and success without quality.
...just makes me laugh, because we're talking about an industry that most recently is probably the most guilty of "success without quality" by way of the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise and all the buckets and buckets of money it made. Self-help being a juggernaut of sales year after year. Obvious derivative slop like Pride and Prejudice & Zombies and the wish-fulfillment nostalgia collage of Ready Player One aren't bringing a new enlightenment to society, practically speaking.
>I hope my story illustrates that the best marketing tactic you can use for a book is to write a great book that actually sells over the long term.
Actually, it kind of illustrates the opposite, in that "a book uploaded every five minutes" isn't a signal-to-noise ratio that really makes much of any sense. The only reason to write a quality book is vanity at this point.
The day that an entity - a startup, a publisher, a legacy firm - can figure out how to intelligently and profitably cull 'good quality' new artists from the loads and loads of self-publishing writers, musicians, or cinema/visual creators out there on their own and bring viewers is the day artists and audiences probably start meeting the monetization in the middle.
No, not always...the reason some strive to write a "quality" book, is not money, though for some that would be nice...a bit of fame, as well...
Money is not a god...it's a fungible thing that people can use to buy almost whatever they wish...things to play with, time to pursue interests, security for those they love...
Some are "driven" to write, and for such people writing well is the goal...this is because they see what can happen when a writer writes well...a great work can define a time, change minds for the better, illuminate otherwise overlooked aspects of life...and lives...
Writing is a passion, for some, just like coding or problem solving is to some of us in this community...or, like hitting a "home run" financially is for entrepreneurs...
They didn't choose this passion, it chose them...
I admire them...let's not sell them short...they're much like us...passions differ...
The biggest thing I got out of that article is that the Internet has truly killed the prospect of making a living as an author if you're competing with half a million other self-published books every year.
I'd say that no one should go into any of the following professions with any expectation of making any money at all:
1) Writing of any kind (fiction, non-fiction, technical articles, journalism -- forget about it!)
2) Digital art of any kind (see DeviantArt for millions of super-talented creations that haven't earned a cent)
3) Photography of any kind (see Shutterfly for millions of photos better than anything you ever took and yet no one will ever pay for)
4) Composing music or lyrics
It kind of surprises me that software, a creative and digital medium like the above, is not futile and that you can still make a good living at it.
Mostly by writing software for a specific business purpose. There's still money in custom content in most of the other areas you list as well--mostly at the high-end of the scale. You're right that it's increasingly hard to just throw your creations out and hope someone will pay much for them.
The thing that differentiates software is that it often enables other people to make or save significant amounts of money. That's something you usually can't say about music or photography, and when you can say it, like with advertising, there's money to be made. If you look at software that doesn't make or save anyone money (e.g. most mobile apps) there isn't actually a ton of money in it for your average creator, just like other creative mediums.
Self publishing can be fantastic as it lowers the bar to entry, enabling authors to be heard who wouldn't normally get past the traditional gatekeepers. Andy Weir's 'The Martian' is a great example of this.
Conversely, finding anything decent on the Kindle store by browsing - especially Kindle Unlimited - is difficult due to the avalanche of crap which clogs up every category.
And I guess it's not really in Amazon's interest to improve this - money is money after all, and they want people to buy these 'books' otherwise 'authors' may stop publishing to the platform.
However, even if the books are unreadable, there's a lot of entertainment to be had from the covers: http://kindlecoverdisasters.tumblr.com
It's an even less useful a heuristic than "As Seem On TV!"
I would never even consider buying something "As seem on TV!" ;)
(Not the movie of the best-seller.)
http://www.businessinsider.com/richard-lewis-instagram-photo...
I am selling on amazon and deal with it often :) It looks like it is constant growing pains.
To self-publish you just fill out forms and upload a Word document and JPG file for the cover. Then select copyright and were to sell it and for how much. It usually takes 24 hours to be approved.
Though I am curious about the economics behind it. People really spending money on what they see is a "Best Seller" when it shouldn't be? Seems like most people buy books based on recommendations, not just going to Amazon and clicking on the best seller tab.
> It's a random thing that's kind of funny and probably will be fixed.
http://a1.blogspot.com/2014/08/zoes-secret-is-3-at-amazon.ht...
About 5000 books sold in a day or. Thats... a lot harder (or just more expensive) to fake.
[1]: http://journal.stuffwithstuff.com/2014/11/20/how-my-book-lau...
They check the DPIs of images, margins, and technical things like that. Absolutely no regard is given for content, and this, IMHO, is exactly how it should be. Self-publishing empowers authors. Sometimes we get junk like 50 Shades of Grey and other times we get gems like The Martian.