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Making the List: A Cultural History of the
American Bestseller, by Michael Korda
Author of review: Trish Milburn
Original Publication Date in Love Notes: December 2002
I saw Michael Korda, editor in chief at Simon & Schuster, on BookTV one
weekend talking about his book about the bestseller list and thought this might
make an interesting read. It did, but if you decide to check it out for
yourself, you might want to know in advance that there is a bit of a
condescending tone toward popular or genre fiction, whether Korda meant it that
way or not. He seems to be of the mindset that “real” books of literary
value (he mentions Cold Mountain as an example, a book that received great
acclaim but also its share of boos) are more valid entries on the list than
books with wide appeal such as those written by Mary Higgins Clark, Stephen
King, John Grisham and Danielle Steel. Despite that tone, which romance writers
bump into constantly, I learned some interesting facts in the reading of Making
the List.
• Bestseller lists in this book are based on Publisher’s Weekly lists.
They begin with 1900; the nonfiction list doesn’t appear until 1912.
• It was once thought to be a sin to read for pleasure.
• Chain stores are not just a modern problem for independent booksellers.
They started appearing in larger cities between 1910 and 1919.
• People continued to buy books even after the stock market crash of 1929;
staying at home and reading was about all they could afford to do.
• The policy of letting bookstores return unsold books for credit with the
publisher began in the 1930s during the Depression so bookstores would continue
to buy books. It was seen as an emergency measure but with a decade of
Depression, it became institutionalized and became a permanent part of the book
industry.
• It was interesting to see what the fiction bestsellers were in the years
my family members were born:
1939 — The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (when my dad was born)
— a book I remember enjoying in high school
1942 — The Song of Bernadette by Frank Werfel (when my mother was
born)
1970 — Love Story by Erich Segal (when I was born); this combined
with the nonfiction bestseller that year (Everything You Always Wanted to
Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask) perhaps predestined me to be a
romance writer!
1974 – Centennial by James Michener (when my sister was born)
• Mass market paperbacks didn’t become common until World War II when
troops had time to read while in camp or on ships and the women at home read
while waiting for sons, husbands and boyfriends to come home. Pocket Books began
mass market paperbacks that were sold by magazine wholesalers and drugstores,
candy stands, etc., but bookstores didn’t carry them. Not until 1955 was there
a paperback bestseller list despite paperbacks outselling hardbacks by huge
amounts.
• Korda uses the dreaded “bodice ripper” term to describe 1944’s Forever
Amber by Kathleen Winsor, a book that was banned in Boston. Despite being
banned, or perhaps because of it, it was the No. 1 fiction bestseller in 1945.
• The pattern of publishing house mergers actually began in the late 1950s
when the rise of mass market paperbacks convinced even some hardback publishers
that the hardback market was dying. Many sold out only to see a few years later
that mass market numbers lowered as their prices rose and hardbacks still had a
good market, especially among those who didn’t want to wait a year for the
paperback version to come out.
• Elements of Style by Strunk and White hit the nonfiction list at
No. 7 in 1959. This book is still suggested to writers of all genres as a great
guide to have close at hand while writing.
• Book sales began to rise in the 1970s when bookstores began to open in
malls, but small independent bookstores went out of business as a result. Mall
stores were open during hours the smaller stores weren’t, were in high traffic
areas rather than dying portions of town, etc. Another consequence was
publishers’ reluctance to back books that might be more specialized or
difficult to sell. They went with big, brand name, bestselling authors.
• I saw a few books that went on to be made into TV miniseries that I loved
when I was young: Shogun by James Clavell (No. 9 in 1975); The Thorn
Birds by Colleen McCollough (No. 2 in 1977); and North and South by
John Jakes (No. 8 in 1982).
• In the 1980s, bookstores began to move back out of the malls into large
superstores that had not only books but also coffee shops, events such as a
author appearances, and big discounts.
• Huge sales became necessary to make it onto the list, and with authors
such as James Michener, Stephen King, Mary Higgins Clark, Sidney Sheldon,
Danielle Steel and Tom Clancy often coming out with a book a year, it became
really difficult to break onto the list if you were a first time author. The
early 1990s really illustrated the trend of the bestseller list being filled
with megastars. In 1990, the fiction list didn’t contain any newcomers.
***
MCRW member Trish Milburn is the current chapter president and her novels win
all kinds of contests.
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