New York Times bestseller list: why one bestselling author is furious with the NYT list.

James Patterson is mad at the New York Times. Specifically, this author of more than 260 New York Times bestselling books is mad at the New York Times bestseller list. He insists that his new book, Walk the Blue Line: No Right, No Left―Just Cops Telling Their True Stories to James Patterson, outsold all but 3 of the other 14 titles on the Times’ hardcover nonfiction bestseller list in the week of March 26, 2023, yet Walk the Blue Line was ranked only at No. The service that publishers consider the most reliable source for such data, NPD BookScan, often shows major discrepancies with the New York Times’ list, but by the company’s own admission, BookScan only tracks 85 percent of print sales in the U.S. BookScan numbers were what convinced Patterson his book had been given short shrift; the Times, in reply, apparently told Patterson what they have long insisted: that such “raw” data is not sufficient. By artificially juicing their sales, they can claim the status of “New York Times bestselling author” to further promote their brands.