Hi there! You are listening to the Lazy Genius Podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi and I'm here

to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't.

Today is a bonus episode. What's the deal with Best Seller lists? I sound like Jerry Seinfeld.

We just launched the Lazy Genius Kitchen into the world and it became a New York Times Best Seller,

which is so much fun and I'm so grateful. And also, there are a lot of questions about Best Seller

lists. There are multiple lists chosen in different ways and I often get asked, especially by

aspiring authors or even just people who are curious, like how do you get on the New York Times?

And I get asked enough to spend a few minutes on it today for this little bonus episode. So this is

a little behind the scenes of Best Seller lists. Now the first thing very important to say, I'm not

an expert. I am a published author but that does not make me an expert in this. Second thing,

there's not a lot written on this topic because third thing, it's like kind of secretive. Not in

a not in a CIA way, but there is a lot of keeping your cards close to your chest. Publishing is a

a very strange industry and way more arbitrary than you might think, especially with Best Seller

lists. So let's just jump into the mystery together, shall we? All right. First thing, the main

published Best Seller lists that we're going to talk about are the New York Times Publishers Weekly,

USA Today, Indie Bound, and the Wall Street Journal. If you are an author and your book shows up on

any of these lists, you can call yourself a National Best Seller. If you see like an Instagram

bio and someone says I'm a National Best Seller, they were on one of those lists. Amazon counts too,

but Amazon rankings show up in different ways at different intervals and they are not printed or

released in the same way as these other lists are. Plus, Amazon is just tracking Amazon. Not in

these or other outlets, right? Okay. Second thing, all of these lists are calculated and chosen

differently, which is why a book might be on one list but not on any others or why sometimes

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