NY Times Best Sellers List (raw numbers indicate huge underranking of Palin biography)

October 16, 2008 | me

[cdga5for4]

The New York Times best sellers list for Sunday, October 26 (sales for the week ending Oct. 11) was released yesterday afternoon to industry insiders. Kaylene Johnson's biography, Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned the Political Establishment Upside Down, will be No. 12 on the Paperback NonFiction list. That sounds pretty good until one takes a closer look at some data.

The New York Times ranking formula is proprietary, although these numbers usually VERY closely follow the raw numbers generated by Nielsen's BookScan (certainly within 10%). It is often stated that BookScan records approximately 60-to-70 percent of the actual sales in a given week. Neither BookScan or the NY Times list counts sales in Christian bookstores.

Following is the NY Times List using BookScan numbers (again the Times list formula is proprietary)

Take a Close Look at These Numbers

1. Three Cups of Tea - 15,750 2. Eat, Pray, Love - 11,176 3. The Audacity of Hope - 6,976 4. Dreams from My Father - 7,581 5. A Long Way Gone - 5,488 6. The Duchess - 7,767 7. 90 Minutes in Heaven - 4,712 8. I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell - 4,270 9. Musicophilia - 4,379 10. The Zookeeper's Wife - 4,717 11. The Shock Doctrine - 4,356 12. Sarah (Kaylene Johnson's Palin bio) - 9,393 13. The Nine - 4,537 14. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle -2,967 15. The Glass Castle - 4,083

[cdga5for4]

Kaylene Johnson's Palin biography sold 9,393 copies last week according to BookScan. Using BookScan numbers it should be third on the Times' list. At the very worst, I guess one could argue that differences in methodology could place it seventh. Notice No. 3 and No. 4 on the list are both Barack Obama titles. Instead, it No. 12.

This is simply outrageous. Quantifiable media bias. Gotta love it.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Look what the Commies have done to “An American Carol.” We live in a different America these days. Lies, lies and more lies.