Here's what bugs me about the NYT Top 10 Books of 2024

Here's my issue with the Top 10 Books of 2024 from The New York Times. This is my own opinion, and I am most curious to hear what you think in the comments below!

PLEASE forgive me for the sound quality, especially the speaking in the background. My spouse had a meeting at the only time I had to film this!

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The New York Times 10 Best Books of 2024

[byronlopezellington]

Legitimate problems with NYT lists aside—I highly recommend checking out Martyr! It's a beautiful novel, and I had Kaveh as a professor this semester and can attest that he is just the most delightful and intelligent man. Was super happy for him when he got shortlisted for the National Book Award, and I'm super happy for him again to see him on this list.

[Arbutus-vm]

Very interesting analysis. The publicity departments at Penguin/Random House can outdo any small publisher and make their books seem to be the truly significant ones. There's also a phoney idea of encompassing 'diversity' (narrowly defined) in the choices. So in the end, the books chosen will never be the best of the year, even if some of them are good.

[sarah-roadworthy]

I would love to be a fly on the wall when the book critics sit around and discuss the selections for the top 10 and notable 100. I bet you are right about "prominence". I suspect they mostly want to pick books that have literary merit AND that your average reader will have heard of and can easily find in a bookstore/library. They want to generate buzz and discussion and drive website views. They won't do that with a list of books very few people will have heard of. The NYT has their commercial interests at heart.

[davebrzeski]

The main thing, I believe, is that the bigger publishers can easily afford to make sure their books get in front of the right people. Most small presses don't have the budget to do that. Especially the non-profit people.
Add to this the fact that many reviewers, even BookTubers & BookTokkers rarely if ever look at indie published books.
This is why I, as a small publisher love your channel so much. I always watch, even if you're discussing books that might not interest me greatly.

[danielleburgess]

It is the case that the big 3 music labels control 70% of the global music market, and I feel like imprints and sub-labels translate pretty well. I do somehow feel like there's a lower bar for indie labels to get attention from "musicheads" and music writing outlets than the equivalents for writing, but that is an impression based on pure vibes.

[sammonicuslux]

I am not sure tricky is precise enough of a word. Disgusting may be more like it. These authors deserve to be published. I agree! But these monopolies are atrocious. The small public library I worked in for 25 years had a plump budget. The librarians would go out of their way(s) to purchase excellent books from smaller publishers. Most small public libraries cannot spend on anything more than the John Grishams and Danielle Steels and major publishers. This is what happens when monopolies are allowed and corporations are allowed to accumulate massive wealth.

[jayv]

Excellent observation! I watch quite a few BookTube videos, and no one else I’ve come across has discussed this interesting component to these lists. Kudos! 👍🏻👍🏻

[redswingline]

As with most things that are judged at end of year, the publishers/producers/agents flood the channels of the most prominent judges with their titles. NYT reads what's sent to them and each reviewer also gets a healthy dose of encouragement with additional politicking propaganda and bribes. Indie producers and publishers can not afford such activity. Music, film, fashion, cosmetic, sports, and pharma industries incur the exact same syndrome. Even occurs in World Cup and Olympic site selection.

[rebelbelle]

I'm a weird reader in the sense that I don't look at NYT Bestseller lists, or Goodreads choice awards. I don't want to read what everyone else is reading. I want to find something myself that I will love, not based on popular opinion or some self-important bigwigs on a committee. I will just as likely pick up a self-published or indie-published book as a top 5 publishers book. I understand that many people don't have the time to really delve in and discover their own reads or will only read 5 books or less a year, which is probably why they lean on these lists, and that's fine. I just wish more people would venture off the well-worn path to find the gems on the side of the road. There are so, so many and it's absolutely worthwhile.

[bobbylittle]

I lived a different life, read many books. The people choosing these books have their own taste and motivations. It just makes me aware of the book. There are many good stories out there, I would rather read pre 2000's any way.

[PageTurnersWithKatja]

Brilliant discussion, Sarah—so thought-provoking! It’s something I think about a lot with literary festivals and book awards too. I’m not against "best of" lists, festivals, or awards—they can be a fantastic way to spotlight deserving authors—but we also shouldn’t be surprised when the same publishers dominate these spaces.

It’s clear that larger publishers have the resources to push their books to the forefront, and while that doesn’t mean the books aren’t deserving, it always makes me wonder about the incredible works from smaller presses or debut authors that might be getting overlooked.

I love your point about digging deeper to find hidden gems. It’s one of the reasons I’m so grateful for communities like this—where we can go beyond the surface and discover books that might not have the same marketing machine behind them but are just as, if not more, worthy of attention.

Thanks for always encouraging thoughtful conversations about the book world—it’s why I keep coming back to your videos!

[DominicBerry-dh]

This is MUCH more important than the Woke vs AntiWoke debate. If people have options in a free market, those problems don’t exist.

[noteworthyfiction]

I don't think it's right, but I think we do accept it. I think of Motown Music (a well accepted brand at its time), Sysco Food that provides food to most of our restaurants, and cereal makers Post and Kellogg. While we have anti trust laws there are still plenty of monopolies in our country (aka Amazon).

[christine]

Here’s a thought about the NYT bestseller list: Years ago I worked in a large independent bookstore in Miami. Every week someone at the Times would call and ask the manager for the best-selling books that week. She was often caught unawares and just went on her gut feeling. Even when she was prepared, she certainly did not keep count of what sold. Just created a list. I have no idea how the list is compiled now.

[maggiemerc]

I had no idea that this list still has credibility on it’s merits. It well known that this is mostly a marketing tool and that people/publishers many times loads of books to inflate sales numbers. Not necessarily a good book.

[booksmitin]

I really appreciate your commentary and perspective on this!

[take.it.to.thebasics]

This is so interesting, I’ve never thought of breaking down these types of lists by publisher! I definitely need to think about this more, great video :))

[BobTheBookerer]

This is such a great analysis, thank you! It’s always frustrating when some of the smaller presses (who I think often take a risk on some of the more exciting work out there) get left out like this.

Not to take away from the list (the ones I’ve read were excellent), but there are so many boundary-pushing books out there that could get such a beautiful push from being included in a list like this.

[p.d.swanfleet]

What I think is more important to talk about is the fact that 54% of Americans read at a fifth-grade level, with 20% of Americans being functionally illiterate...No wonder independent book publishers are having trouble finding readers...The USA is running out of readers...

[mame-musing]

Great observation and market analysis! Most of the “nominees” for book prizes are submitted by their publishers. The prizes generate a lot of publicity for nominated titles.