"The best bestsellers" ... This phrase is so familiar to everyone that, probably, no one thought about its meaning, everyone intuitively understands what it means. To better understand the meaning of the word "best seller", you need to trace its history.
The concept of "best seller"
If you literally translate from English, you get the following: best - the largest, best, seller - sold, that is, that is at the peak of sales. In the last century, when only print media were the means of communicating and exchanging information, the word "bestseller" was applied to books.
Modernity offers its own interpretation. Nowadays, “bestsellers” are not just publications, they are Internet marketing, advertising and design combined in a single source, even computer games can be considered bestsellers.
In fact, the first places on the sales lists do not at all mean the artistic merit of a work or its literary value. Although it happens that these indicators are the same.
Background History
For the first time, the term "bestseller" was used in 1889 (this is relatively recent, given the lifetime of books). Although such a phenomenon as the quick sell-out and the enormous popularity of some print publications was noticed much earlier. At the very beginning of typography, book runs were small, popularity was estimated by the number of reprints. They bought books, read them in the salons, handed them over and read them, as they say, “to holes”.
The copyright system at that time was just beginning to emerge, some printing houses shamelessly reprinted the most
popular books, without notifying the author, depriving him of royalties. Copyright protection was very weak.
In the early years of book printing, religious books were mostly in demand. They tried to make them small, because the volume of the book directly affected its price. The Bible, for example, up to the nineteenth century remained a very expensive book, because it had an impressive volume. Because of this, each copy of the Bible was very valuable.
Today's interpretation
Today, the most popular newspapers publish their lists of best-selling books. Some general lists are divided into categories. So does the New York Times, for example. So, since 2001, the publication introduced the category of "Children's Book". How are these lists compiled, who determines whether these are bestsellers or not? All information about book sales is tracked by a certain company Nielsen BookScan. This information is not provided to the general public, but the company sells advice to bookstores at a high price, which book is best displayed, which publications can be offered at a discount, and which should be purchased in a larger volume.
The action literature is most popular. These are mostly detective stories and romance novels for women. Everyone knows the names of Stephen King, Sidney Sheldon, JK Rowling, whose equal is not found at all.
Classical literature is a great help to the publishing business. Although among book lovers there are often disputes as to whether classical works are bestsellers or not? Most agree that if the classic edition is popular and has a high degree of sales, it can safely be called a bestseller.
The Other Bestseller
There are a lot of book lovers among Web users. Often bloggers publish their lists of literary works, they may contain more accurate, fresh and interesting information than in print periodicals. The deep entry into our lives of the Internet, computers, smartphones and other attributes of our time to a large extent diversifies our lives - online publications, computer games, distance training are becoming more and more popular, and the term “bestseller” is increasingly used here. Given the informational and technological growth of mankind, this concept will continue to gain breadth.
Russian bestseller
In cinema, more and more often, the word "best seller" means the most rated or high-budget films. The program "Russian bestseller" presents its viewers peak pictures. The collection of multi-genre and multi-topic paintings is united by one, the main goal - to captivate the viewer, immerse him in the world of his beloved heroes, make him again relive, love, solve the intricate patterns of enemies and really enjoy the victories. For many viewers today this is their favorite program. The best-seller, once captured on paper, received a second - filmed - life, played with new colors and shades. The pictures are perfectly matched on the channel, these are exceptionally super popular films and series, where the honed skill of your favorite actors allows you to spend every minute at the blue screen with pleasure. The Russian Best Seller channel is designed for a large audience; these are men and women from 30 to 75 years old. Everyone will find time to watch their favorite movie, because the channel broadcasts around the clock, by the way, without interrupting advertising. Happy viewing.