{"id":114969,"date":"2017-08-30T01:43:29","date_gmt":"2017-08-30T05:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=114969"},"modified":"2017-08-30T01:43:29","modified_gmt":"2017-08-30T05:43:29","slug":"novel-removed-from-independent-stores-bestseller-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/08\/30\/novel-removed-from-independent-stores-bestseller-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Novel removed from independent stores’ bestseller list"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Spokesman<\/a>
Spokesman Dan Cullen cited \u201can unusual pattern of purchases.\u201d (Photo<\/a> by HandbookForMortals\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK\u2014 A fantasy novel removed from a New York Times bestseller list because of suspicious sales has been pulled from a chart compiled by the American Booksellers Association.<\/p>\n

The association announced Tuesday that Lani Sarem’s \u201cHandbook for Mortals\u201d will not appear on its young adult list for the week ending Aug. 27 and showed up in error the week before, when it reached No. 2. Spokesman Dan Cullen cited \u201can unusual pattern of purchases.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe title should not have made it onto the Indie Bestsellers list, and it isn’t appearing this week,\u201d the association, which represents thousands of independent stores, said in a statement. \u201cWe’re always reviewing our procedures to improve them, and, following this, we are refining the way we do things.<\/p>\n

Last week, young adult author Phil Stamper and others were alarmed to see a little known book topping the Times’ young adult list that was scheduled to run Sept. 3. Stamper helped launch a campaign on Twitter that raised questions over whether \u201cHandbook for Mortals\u201d had benefited from \u201cbulk\u201d sales, when a single buyer orders hundreds or even thousands of copies. The Times agreed that the novel, published Nov. 15 through the Los Angeles-based website geeknation.com, did not meet the paper’s \u201ccriteria for inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Placement on a bestseller list, especially a Times list, is highly desired by authors and publishers who value both the status and how the label \u201cbestseller\u201d can lead to further success. \u201cBulk\u201d sales are not uncommon and some books have appeared on a Times list with a small dagger symbol, indicating \u201cthat some retailers report receiving bulk orders.\u201d An \u201cAbout the Best Sellers\u201d note on the newspaper’s website reads that \u201cInstitutional, special interest, group or bulk purchases, if and when they are included, are at the discretion of The New York Times Bestseller List Desk editors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarem, who has a background in acting and music management and has hoped to get a movie deal for \u201cHandbook for Mortals,\u201d has denied trying to manipulate sales in order to get her novel on bestseller lists. \u201cAmerican Pie\u201d actor Thomas Ian Nicholas, who has helped publicize the novel and expressed interest in producing and starring in a film version, has also denied any improper actions. But he acknowledged that he contacted bookstores about buying large amounts of copies to sell at Comic Con and other gatherings.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe that’s where things got convoluted,\u201d he told The Hollywood Reporter last week.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the booksellers association is looking to revise how it compiles its list. In Tuesday’s statement, the association said it did not rely \u201con raw numbers, but takes into account the ranking of a title in a store’s weekly sales, which we have done since the list was launched in order to reflect the diversity of stores across the entire network of stores.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re always reviewing our procedures to improve them,\u201d the association announced, \u201cand, following this, we are refining the way we do things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK\u2014 A fantasy novel removed from a New York Times bestseller list because of suspicious sales has been pulled …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":114972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22374,22371,22372,22376,22375,22373,22377],"class_list":["post-114969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-american-booksellers-association","tag-fantasy-novel","tag-fantasy-novel-removed-from-a-new-york-times","tag-handbook-for-mortals","tag-lani-sarem","tag-new-york-times-bestseller-list","tag-an-unusual-pattern-of-purchases","mauthors-hillel-italie","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}