
What Does It Take to Be a ‘Best-Selling Author’? $3 and 5 Minutes - hullo
http://observer.com/2016/02/behind-the-scam-what-does-it-takes-to-be-a-bestselling-author-3-and-5-minutes/
======
IgorPartola
Aww, just like every person I call at an 800 number is a Customer Executive,
every product I buy is Award Winning, every slice of pizza I eat is World
Famous, every company I work with is an Industry Leader, etc. This is also how
I am the founder, president, CEO, and owner of my company, which is basically
just me and my laptop doing contract work every once in a while.

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?

~~~
nkozyra
> Look, this is a stupid bug in their algorithm, and will probably be fixed at
> some point.

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).

~~~
ProAm
> If anything it's a bug in their process

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.

~~~
SquidLord
> online retailers are becoming 'salesmen'

Let me fix that for you.

------
Outdoorsman
The author is right...it doesn't take a high level of talent, or any at all in
his example, to become a "best seller"...

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...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_literary_awards#American_literature)

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...

~~~
roymurdock
Great recommendation - go to the experts when looking for new material.

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...

~~~
luchadorvader
...

------
joelgrus
Confession: I am guilty of this. Well, sort of. I actually did write a book,
and it did sell more than 3 copies, and now I put "best selling author" on my
resume, on account of my book being #1 in its category (sometimes) and #1 on
oreilly.com (sometimes).

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.

~~~
rahimnathwani
Slightly off topic, but your book is awesome. I'd highly recommend it to
anyone who knows Python (or programming in general) but for whom math-
notation-heavy stats/ML books are daunting.

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.

------
reitanqild
Wonderful author credits at the end:

> Brent Underwood is the No. 1 best-selling author of Putting My Foot Down and
> a ...

~~~
judah
Another bonus is the author's update footnote:

>> "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."

~~~
cwilkes
Footnote? Man the jokes just write themselves.

~~~
scholia
Corny but he nailed it....

------
im_down_w_otp
This. Is. Hysterical.

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"?

~~~
ktRolster
It makes me want to buy his book.

~~~
Tepix
Same here. It was no longer available though.

------
6stringmerc
Okay I completely understand the concept of the post and get the sadness and
humor all at the same time. In an era where attentiveness and long-form
reading seems to be in distinct decline, distinctions within the marketplace
losing meaning hurts. I'm sure customers will eventually adapt though...but
this quote:

> _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.

~~~
Outdoorsman
>>The only reason to write a quality book is vanity at this point.<<

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...

------
mattkevan
The signal-to-noise ratio for Kindle books is out of hand.

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](http://kindlecoverdisasters.tumblr.com)

------
computator
> These days, over one million books are published each year, with at least
> half of these self-published.

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.

~~~
vollmond
The exception for all of these would be individual, contracted work. IE,
wedding photographers will be in demand long after any mass-market commercial
photography dies out.

~~~
ghaff
Although, even in that case, as was discussed on another thread recently,
there's a lot of hollowing out going on. Tier 1 wedding photographers with
distinctive styles in big demand will continue to be able to charge big $$ for
those willing and able to afford them. But the guy that used to have a local
monopoly mostly by dint of having spent some dollars on gear and an office-
front is being undercut by gig workers with DSLRs. Most people don't care
about their wedding photos being "art." And many young couples will take the
package that costs half as much.

------
edent
Not really a new phenomenon. I sold 4 comics and was second only to Neil
Gaiman's Sandman. [https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2013/08/how-to-crack-amazons-
kindle...](https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2013/08/how-to-crack-amazons-kindle-best-
seller-list-sell-4-books/)

It's an even less useful a heuristic than "As Seem On TV!"

~~~
thaumasiotes
To be fair, I think a good number of people use "As seen on TV!" as a
reasonably strong recommendation not to buy the thing, if only for social
class purposes.

I would never even consider buying something "As seem on TV!" ;)

------
BaconJuice
I wanted to buy this book..seems like it's down now :(

~~~
waynecochran
It's not there anymore!?!? -- I was going to purchase it!

------
mring33621
For the inevitable movie version, I'd like to see Idris Elba or Jake
Gyllenhaal cast as the foot.

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Left_Foot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Left_Foot)

(Not the movie of the best-seller.)

------
Eiriksmal
An elegant demonstration of a technique that works for most products on
Amazon. Isn't it incredible how virtually every product you look at on Amazon
is a #1 best seller in its category? At the very least, it'll be in the top
15. They only sell the best-possible products on there, right? Oh, it's only
because the categories are so endlessly varied--er, "precise," that each one
conveniently only has 8-15 products in it.

~~~
kardos
Or perhaps, miraculously, you're only looking at the best of the best
products?

------
Xcelerate
If he had played up his "book" as fine art, he could have made millions. Kind
of like how this guy took photos of other people's photos and sold them for
exorbitant amounts:

[http://www.businessinsider.com/richard-lewis-instagram-
photo...](http://www.businessinsider.com/richard-lewis-instagram-
photos-100000-dollars-new-york-new-portraits-copyright-2015-5?r=UK&IR=T)

------
robbles
It seems like Amazon could fix this in a straightforward way without losing
the "hourly updated" part of their bestseller list - just compute a longer
time period for each hour, like a rolling average. That way the current
bestseller still updates every hour, but they'd need to have the most sales
over the last week/month instead.

------
kelvin0
I don't know which is worse: Amazon's shoddy rating system (for 'bestsellers')
or someone using this 'rating' to pass themselves as a first rate author ...

------
jonaldomo
Did amazon pull his book down for low content? Anyways, this is an actual
business strategy as the categories is always changing. I was hired by a guy
to script which categories have a higher chance than others to get the top
spot. The number of views for a category bestseller is staggering.

~~~
cryoshon
That's an interesting project. Is this script open source by any chance? It's
not of any practical use, but it'd be interesting to graph the fluctuations if
there are any.

------
nathancahill
TL;DR: Choose an arbitrary small Amazon category to publish your book in.
You'll be #1!

------
guelo
Amazon would be smart to create an official "Amazon Best Selling Author"
certification and protecting it by going after anybody claiming a fake Amazon
title. Unfortunately and strangely, Amazon doesn't seem to care about this
kind of reputation management, for example their product reviews have become a
spam quagmire, and Amazon actually encourages it with their Vine reviewer
program.

------
hippich
To everybody who saying something along lines "amazon should do X Y Z":
amazon's business is clusterfuck, but profitable one. They have TONS of issues
with ranking, process, UI, etc,etc,etc. Almost every single problem requires
reaching through seller support to engineering team, or someone having closer
DB access. Categorization, fields are all SUBcategory-depending. The way you
get included into certain categories is also depends on product/subcategory.
Stuff sometimes simply doesn't work. In 2015 alone they switched between three
different promotion offerings.

I am selling on amazon and deal with it often :) It looks like it is constant
growing pains.

------
eru
Good PR, Amazon! They just made me read a tutorial of how to upload a book to
their side, and convinced me it's easy enough to give it a try if I ever
wanted to publish a book.

~~~
orionblastar
Self-Publishing on Amazon Kindle is easy. It is harder to sell and make sure
you use good writing in your book to correct grammar mistakes.

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.

------
jackschultz
I was going to say that this was a fun hack and neat to read about but the
author seemed actually angry about this bug. It's a random thing that's kind
of funny and probably will be fixed.

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.

~~~
ladybro
I believe the author is angry at how many people in the author/publishing
world flout this "bug" as a way to fool possible customers rather than the bug
itself. He mentions working with a lot of NYT best-sellers and I can imagine
it would be frustrating for people to claim they are on the same level after
doing something like this.

~~~
shloky
This. The sheer quantity of terrible content marketers whose sole content is
selling the idea that you can become a bestselling author who wear this badge
is absurd.

------
cbhl
Is it actually still possible to buy the alleged book? I couldn't find it with
a cursory search of Amazon.com.

~~~
incarnate
Looks like it was yanked, the book is linked at the bottom of the article:
[http://www.amazon.com/Putting-My-Foot-Down-Featuring-
ebook/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Putting-My-Foot-Down-Featuring-
ebook/dp/B01BWBSZ0M/)

------
EwanG
Has been going on for a while. As I wrote about a couple years ago with my own
experience:

[http://a1.blogspot.com/2014/08/zoes-secret-is-3-at-
amazon.ht...](http://a1.blogspot.com/2014/08/zoes-secret-is-3-at-amazon.html)

------
hmans
How did Amazon approve this?

~~~
blister
As someone that just published a book through that process, they don't
actually care about the content or what it is that your book is about. They're
just reviewing it to make sure that there aren't any glaring formatting errors
that will cause it to print poorly or make their final product look bad.

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.

------
armenarmen
reminds a bit of this: [http://thehustle.co/underground-world-of-kindle-
ebooks](http://thehustle.co/underground-world-of-kindle-ebooks)

------
searine
A better question. What does it take to hit best seller status on a top level
category?

About 5000 books sold in a day or. Thats... a lot harder (or just more
expensive) to fake.

~~~
munificent
It really depends on the period they use to calculate it. My book was very
briefly the #1 programming book on Amazon[1], which is, I think, a decent-
sized category. I don't know the exact numbers, but I probably sold a few
hundred copies that day. But, more importantly, I think I had a narrow spike
of a lot of sales in a couple of hours right when the book first launched.

[1]: [http://journal.stuffwithstuff.com/2014/11/20/how-my-book-
lau...](http://journal.stuffwithstuff.com/2014/11/20/how-my-book-launch-went/)

~~~
ryanholiday
It depends. They're calculated hourly. Right place right time...could be just
a couple dozen. Books sell less copies than people think.

------
ommunist
Please register my complaint to Amazon. I want to buy your bestselling title!
They have no rights to deprive me as a reader. I love feet!

------
Aardwolf
Per definition of the word "best", there can be only one, so I never took that
term serious

------
EGreg
So the easy fix is to make the bestseller list look at the last week, not
hour. Wow.

------
t0mk
tldr anyone? I read 25%, it was bragging and fancy talk. How is the system
actually tricked?

~~~
Joeboy
Amazon gave his book a "#1 Best Seller" rating even though it only sold three
copies (one to the author and two to his friends). It was actually
(presumably) the best selling book in a very niche category, over a very short
space of time.

