How do you become a Sunday Times bestseller?
What it takes to make the chart, plus my experience with five years' skin in the game
A few Tuesdays ago at about 3pm I received an email from my editor with the title “The Household is a Sunday Times bestseller!”
Honestly I had forgotten I would find out that day whether or not the book would chart. I had a feeling it would, because in the couple of weeks leading up to it I was checking what sales figures would put you in at No.10, and I knew how many preorders we had. Preorders count towards your first week of sales, so if 1,200 people have preordered and during the first week of sales (which is Saturday to Friday) 300 copies are sold, your first week’s total is 1,500. If it sells 300 copies the following week, that’s 300 total, so you’re unlikely to make the chart.
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