Which Author Doesn’t Dream of a Spiegel Bestseller?
But How Exactly Does the Ranking Work?
The Spiegel Bestseller lists for fiction and non-fiction are updated once a week. On Monday afternoons, the sales data from the previous week is analysed. The Bestseller lists are then updated every Wednesday afternoon. The number of copies sold per title determines the respective order in the rankings, so it may be that in some weeks a lower sales figure can already achieve a Spiegel Bestseller ranking than in other weeks.
Media control carries out this evaluation based on sales data from the merchandise management systems of bookselling outlets (e.g. stationary bookshops, online shops etc.). Since the data is read into the media control database on a daily basis, the result is a very accurate picture of what is happening on the market.
In order to obtain meaningful Bestseller lists, the titles are sorted according to content criteria (fiction, non-fiction, guidebooks, children’s/youth books) as well as book types such as hardcover, paperback and paperback.
For guidebooks as well as children’s and youth books, further criteria apply that are not based on the book types. For example, only original and first editions are included in the Bestseller list for children’s and young adults’ books.
The evaluation here can also take place at different intervals than for the other Bestseller lists. For example, picture books are only evaluated once a month.
Further information on the exact requirements can be found on the Buchreport website. You can find the website at the following link: Buchreport Website
