What does it take to be a "best selling" author on Amazon? Well, after one man's experiment, it appears that anyone's book can be a "best seller" which is good news for writers who want to sell their books on Amazon. The man, a partner at marketing company, wanted to debunk the hype behind being a bestselling author on Amazon. He took a photo of his foot and listed it as a book on Amazon. In a matter of hours, the picture of the foot had achieved "No.1 Best Seller" status. http://nextshark.com/brent-underwood-amazon-best-seller-foot/ How many copies of the book did he sell to attain best seller status? Three.
"...the ‘Transpersonal’ category under psychology books and ‘Freemasonry & Secret Societies’ category under social sciences books" So basically he became best-selling in a micro-category with maybe 3 other books in it, probably by buying one copy himself (I couldn't read the whole article as the url seems to be FUBARed). I am not really sure that proves anything everyone didn't already know. I mean has anyone in the history of ever said "OMG some dude claimed this was a kindle bestseller in a fifth level category, I shall purchase it sight unseen forthwith!"?
Oh my goodness, I laughed when he wrote, "The waiting is the worst part of the process. What if Amazon rejected my foot?" Hahahaha! Then the most amazing part is his book was approved quite quickly. Without even looking at the book's content I guess! I guess since Amazon is quite a big company, they don't have the time to check what products go into their site. It is up to us the customers, to look for reviews before purchasing a book or any other product even.
That's why there will always be a distinction between best selling authors via different channels. Hard copies are still what counts, while e-books can do well, those figures are often manipulated. Some books on Amazon are a couple of pages long, but they have begun to clamp down on these types of books.
This motivates me to write an ebook and sell it on Amazon. I'd promote it a little or convince a few friends to buy and voila!, I'll be an Amazon best selling author well on his way to selling millions of Ebooks Kidding aside though I think Amazon needs to do more to protect their buyers. A one-page book is no book and shouldn't be sold anywhere.
Um, all you will have achieved is topping one of about 800 "lists" on Amazon, and one that no one looks at and no one buys from. It doesn't actually make you a best seller. So you could save yourself the trouble of listing anything on Amazon at all and make the same claim. Its a mildly funny joke but it doesn't say jack about Amazon. It would be like sneaking a turn in a jar on a shelf in Macy's, and using it to say Macy's deliberately sells crap to customers. It doesn't actually mean any such thing.
Actually there is absolutely no distinction between ebook and print copies on this basis. They both have obscure 4th and 5th level lists. The both have sales ranking to determine how you appear on these lists. And they both use actual paid sales, with a premium on recent sales, to determine these rankings. If anything ebook rankings are harder to fake because each account can only buy a given ebook title once, but can buy unlimited copies of a print book.
I'm just wondering why he was that concerned about doing it in the first place to be honest. I can't say that ice ever sat at home and wondered what makes a bestseller on Amazon, let alone gone out to try and prove that anyone can achieve it. Now he can say to his grandchildren that he once had a bestselling book on Amazon, even though strictly speaking he actually didn't. What a waste of time and effort...
Well I cannot really say that I am too surprised here. I am pretty sure that this has been a running joke on a lot of sitcom shows where the local celebrity has influence by their books. The one that comes to my mind is Parks and Recreation, but I am sure that there are others. I guess it just goes to show you what these ratings mean sometimes.
