With so many new books being published each year, the options for finding new reads are practically endless. More lists catering to different audiences have been springing up over the past couple years to help book buyers.
But this post is for both readers and writers. For readers, there are many lists out there that cater to ebooks, and in some cases, to indie ebooks. If you’re looking for your next great read, then I suggest you try one of these lists.
For writers, these lists can be used as research purposes. You can see which genres are trending, what book covers are selling, and which book descriptions are attracting readers. Use it as inspiration to see what could work for your own books.
I’ve broken the best seller lists up into two categories: indie ebooks only, and traditionally and self-published ebooks. Please let me know in the comments if you know of any others I may have missed!
Ebook Bestseller Lists (Indie Only)
IndieReader (weekly top 10 list using data from NY Times, USA Today, and Amazon)
Smashwords Bestseller List (monthly list posted on Publisher’s Weekly since July 2013, find it in the archives)
Ebook Bestseller Lists (Traditional and Indie)
Amazon (top 100 paid and free ebooks, updated hourly based on sales on Amazon; Random Writing Rants has a good post with interesting tips on how to make it onto an Amazon bestseller list, which is also broken up into various categories)
The Bookseller (monthly ranking that started July 2013 and posts information about bestselling ebooks in the U.K.; may be hard to find, but appears as a PDF)
Digital Book World (weekly list that started mid-2012 and also analyzes the results, combining data from Amazon, Apple, Nook, Google, Kobo, and Sony, with scores weighted by retailer’s marketshare)
Kobo (top 50 ebooks sold on Kobo)
Nook (top 100 list sold on Barnes & Noble)
USA Today (weekly list that combines hardcover, paperback, and ebook sales from sources including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books a Million, Bookland and Books & Bo., Costco, Hudson Booksellers, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Kobo, Powell’s Books, R.J. Julia Booksellers, Schuler Books & Music, Sony Reader Store, Target, and Tattered Cover Book Store)
**Good e-Reader also briefly had a best seller list that reported on what people downloaded (instead of sales), but it appears to no longer exist.
[…] shared their data, but it helps a lot more to be able to see the big picture. Looking at bestseller lists is a start, and CEO of Smashwords Mark Coker often offers detailed information about ebooks on […]