The New York Times wrote today about 'The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili' that, "The novel will make a debut at No. 6 on The Times best-seller list on Sunday and will rise to No. 3 on the list on June 6." How far in advance are these lists determined, anyway?

Senior Moments

The New York Times list is the American industry's standard. It's the most prestigious, appearing as it does in the premier book review in the country. And it's the widest-reaching, based on data from the largest number of stores. Many bookstores sell New York Times best sellers at a discount, thereby generating even more sales for New York Times best sellers. Publishers regularly write bonuses into contracts to factor in the possibility that a book will makes the Times list. This clause is typically phrased "$7,000 for positions 1-5, $5,000 for positions 6-10, and $3,000 for positions 11-15." The Times divides its best sellers into hardcover and paperback lists and then divides each of these into fiction, nonfiction, and a third category called "Advice, How-To, and Miscellaneous." This last category has led some to accuse the straight nonfiction list of being a "useful fiction," designed to give publicity to books that would otherwise fail. May 26 04, 5:31 AM

Senior Moments

Part 2 One significant but little-known fact about the Times best-seller list is that it does not follow every single book published each year. Instead, the Times sends a list to bookstores indicating which books they are "tracking" as potential future best sellers and asks for sales information on those books (and any others the bookstores want to report on). The Times says this tracking list is drawn up from information from bookstores, but publishers say they routinely call up the Times to tip them off to books selling with increasing momentum so that they can be added to the tracking list. The Times Web site publishes another list: "Chains vs. Independents," which compares how books in all three categories are selling in these two different types of outlets. This list was a concession to independent bookstores, many of which were outraged when the Times created hot links between every single book on its Internet best-seller list and Barnes & Noble's online bookstore, which then gave a 30 percent discount to all the listed books. Some independent bookstores were so angry about this that they boycotted the list and, early in 1998, about 100 bookstores in Northern California refused to report their sales to the New York Times list. The Times claimed that the number boycotting never reached a "critical mass" that would have threatened the integrity of its list. http://slate.msn.com/id/3504/ May 26 04, 5:31 AM