Why did you partner with Bookshop.org?
We partnered with bookshop.org because we want to support independent booksellers whenever possible.
However, we have also included Amazon links because some of the books are only available on Amazon. Plus—because they are a union-busting, tax-dodging, monopolistic mega-corporation—most stuff is cheaper on Amazon.
We all have a budget and some days yours might not include fighting the tide of late capitalism without the support of any regulatory agencies. We get that.
Why are you using Goodreads reviews?
Our problems with Amazon aside, we actually would have preferred to use their customer reviews because they are tied to verified purchases. But because Amazon is so big they can do whatever they want and no one will stop them, they don’t allow reviews on their site to be republished outside of very strict parameters (usually partnered advertorial content on big sites).
Goodreads is the best alternative we could find, but it is not perfect. You don’t even need an email address to leave a Goodreads review, much less a verified purchase, so ratings should be taken with a grain of salt. This is especially true for books from “controversial” cast members, writers of color, and anyone who has ever expressed a view on politics or social justice. We made an effort to pull positive and negative reviews for all the books that were amusing and informative.
Reviews have been edited for length and clarity.
How are you determining a book’s popularity?
We’re determining a book’s popularity based on the number of reviews it has on Goodreads. It’s extremely unscientific and likely inaccurate but it’s the best that we have.
Professionals in the publishing industry use a program called BookScan to track book sales. It’s also an imperfect method, as it only captures about 75% of retail sales. It also costs $2,500 a year to access and, from looking at the terms of use, it doesn’t look like we’d be able to publicly share the data.
That said, we’re deeply curious how closely our lists align to the actual facts and if anybody is able to help us out, please reach out!
Why did you partner with Bookshop.org?
We partnered with bookshop.org because we want to support independent booksellers whenever possible.
However, we have also included Amazon links because some of the books are only available on Amazon. Plus—because they are a union-busting, tax-dodging, monopolistic mega-corporation—most stuff is cheaper on Amazon.
We all have a budget and some days yours might not include fighting the tide of late capitalism without the support of any regulatory agencies. We get that.
Our problems with Amazon aside, we actually would have preferred to use their customer reviews because they are tied to verified purchases. But because Amazon is so big they can do whatever they want and no one will stop them, they don’t allow reviews on their site to be republished outside of very strict parameters (usually partnered advertorial content on big sites).
Goodreads is the best alternative we could find, but it is not perfect. You don’t even need an email address to leave a Goodreads review, much less a verified purchase, so ratings should be taken with a grain of salt. This is especially true for books from “controversial” cast members, writers of color, and anyone who has ever expressed a view on politics or social justice. We made an effort to pull positive and negative reviews for all the books that were amusing and informative.
Reviews have been edited for length and clarity.
We’re determining a book’s popularity based on the number of reviews it has on Goodreads. It’s extremely unscientific and likely inaccurate but it’s the best that we have.
Professionals in the publishing industry use a program called BookScan to track book sales. It’s also an imperfect method, as it only captures about 75% of retail sales. It also costs $2,500 a year to access and, from looking at the terms of use, it doesn’t look like we’d be able to publicly share the data.
That said, we’re deeply curious how closely our lists align to the actual facts and if anybody is able to help us out, please reach out!
