How the Bestseller Lists Work

Otherppl with Brad Listi

Brad Listi

Books, Society & Culture, Arts

4.8 • 554 Ratings

🗓️ 3 May 2023

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the latest "Craftwork" episode, a deep-dive conversation about the bestseller lists with Carly Watters, herself a longtime literary agent and the co-host of the popular writing podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing. Carly is "very online"—follow her on Instagram and Twitter—with a keen understanding of the digital landscape and the challenges faced by contemporary authors. In this episode, we discuss how the bestseller lists actually work, who the decision-makers are, and what making a list can mean to a writer's career in practical terms. Carly Watters is a SVP and Senior Literary Agent at P.S. Literary. She began her publishing career in London as an assistant at the Darley Anderson Literary, TV and Film Agency. Carly joined Toronto-based P.S. Literary Agency in 2010 and has sold over 100 books during her career. She represents award-winning and bestselling authors in the adult fiction and non-fiction categories, and select children’s books. She is known for her long-term vision for her authors and being an excellent collaborator with a nose for commercial success. She has close ties to publishers in the major markets, is a member of the AALA, and works directly with film agents to option film and TV rights to leading networks and production companies. Her clients’ books have been translated into 40 languages, optioned for TV and film, adapted into podcasts, and have been on every bestseller list from coast to coast, including the New York Times, USA Today, the LA Times, the Washington Post, the Toronto Star, and theGlobe and Mail. Carly is also an annual judge for the Women’s Fiction Writing Association Rising Star Award. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Launched in 2011. Books. Literature. Writing. Publishing. Authors. Screenwriters. Etc. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, etc. Subscribe to Brad Listi’s email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch @otherppl Instagram YouTube TikTok Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:32.6	All right, everybody. Welcome to The Other People Show. I'm Brad Listy here in Los Angeles it's good to be
0:37.5	with you thank you for listening I appreciate it I hope you're doing all right
0:41.4	wherever you happen to be I have a great episode for you today very interesting
0:47.4	episode I think you're gonna like it I'm just speculating let's do some craft work
0:53.5	today I am going to be doing another episode that
0:58.3	gets into the business side of publishing. I'm going to be joined once again by Carly Waters,
1:03.2	returning champion, senior literary agent, and co-host of a podcast called The Shit No One Tells
1:08.7	You about writing. And today we're going to be talking about something that does not get talked about enough.
1:16.5	Bestseller lists.
1:18.2	Because, let's be honest, every writer or most writers or the overwhelming majority of people who write, dream of writing a bestseller a book that sells a
1:28.8	shit ton of copies a book that appears on a bestseller list the new york times list in particular
1:34.6	multiple lists the more lists the better lists is a tough word to say and i'm going to have to
1:43.2	say it over and over again just realizing this
1:46.6	but the truth is that and this is something that I need to point out and this is something that
1:51.6	Carly points out these lists are not super well understood and frankly some of this is by design
1:57.7	there is some cultivated mystery here. Some real mystery around how these
2:04.0	bestseller lists actually function. And so we're going to talk about it. I'm going to ask
	...

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