Starting Exactly Now, the "Out of Print" Book is Extinct

Last week, the NYTimes finally aligned itself with reality and made a major shift in the way it reports books sales. The new, improved bestsellers list is a combo of ebook sales and print sales, and now there is also a list for ebook sales only. Both of these lists are weekly, and both cover fiction and nonfiction separately.

Welcome to a new world, everyone.

Of particular fun is comparing the print/ebook combo list against the ebook-only list. Notice a trend? The ebook-only list is strong in backlisted books, as I predicted here. As of exactly now, the days of a book being “out of print” are gone forever. Interesting new world, and good for the pocketbook of writers.

This week's ebooks bestsellers list is found here: http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2011-02-20/e-book-fiction/list.html

- Caleb