A buddy of mine who used years in publishing once told me that publishing is about perception, and this really is extremely true. What she meant by this is that print runs as well as any and all advance buzz a book is obtaining will also assist it land on a list. Generally a book that is just “born” in to the publishing globe with no buzz, advanced reviews, and so on. will not capture the attention of a big list. An associate of mine in publishing as soon as told me that Travel Guide she was working with only sold 5,000 copies before it landed on a significant list. The smallness from the number is staggering when you consider it. Keep in mind that the book hit a list during a slow period, too, so that also worked in its favor.

Also, lists aren’t always based on sales. The new york times best seller, for example, is known for a non-sale list, which means that they circulate to 39 reporting stores to discover whether or not a book is performing well. If it is being talked about by the shops, it’ll frequently make the new york times bestseller list.

When you do the study, you realize that there’s no way anyone can “rig” a list and promise you bestseller status. Well, there’s one way: by buying up a lot of copies of a book inside a short period of time. There have been companies promising bestseller status that do this, however once their warehouses are uncovered the companies often fold.

Also, those books at some point would flood the system but once more, generally as used copies on Amazon, which would compete for sales attention with the newly printed counterparts. Any way you slice it, purchasing up your own books using the hope of getting on a list ought to be the last factor on the marketing agenda.