Catch A Fire: 'USA Today' Best-Seller List Embraces Kindle

  • July 23, 2009
With Thursday's edition, "USA Today" becomes the first major publisher of a book best-seller list to include sales data from Amazon's Kindle e-reader. "USA Today" began publishing its Best-Selling Books list (so-named to differentiate it from other's best-seller lists) in October 1993. The ranking does not differentiate by genre or format, ranking only by title, based on sales at 7,000 physical retail outlets, books sold online, and now on the Kindle. The Kindle data will be incorporated into the rankings, which publish each Thursday in the newspaper's Life section.

Nielsen's BookScan, one of the industry standards in measuring book sales (which began measuring POS book purchases in 2001), has been struggling with a way to incorporate e-book and e-reader sales into its metrics. BookScan's Jim King said at the 2009 Book Industry Study Group's Conference, that the measurement company would begin reporting e-book sales next year as a separate binding type (alongside hardcover, trade paper, mass market and audio books).

"USA Today," with a circulation of 2.1 million, claims to be the nation's top-selling newspaper. It was founded in 1982 as a national newspaper, with a layout and features that differentiated from the dailies people were accustomed to. Lacking a substantial legacy, the paper has been more quick to adopt modern elements than have its peers -- such as the abundant use of color presaged widespread adoption by the industry. Most recently, the paper showed its willingness to adapt to the tastes and habits of its audience by becoming the first major daily to add a weekly ranking of Mixed Martial Arts fighters. --John Capone

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