Another the times they are a-changin’ moment: As of today, the New York Times Best Seller list finally includes ebooks. Given the fact that ebook sales have now outpaced both hardcover and paperback sales, it’s about time.
Unfortunately, though, if you read the list, all of the qualifications and exceptions at the bottom of the list are somewhat disheartening. And if you sell your title exclusively at Amazon or Smashwords, you won’t make the list (at least for the time being) because:
E-books available exclusively from a single vendor will be tracked at a future date.
Also excluded are:
Among the categories not actively tracked at this time are: perennial sellers, required classroom reading, textbooks, reference and test preparation guides, journals, workbooks, calorie counters, shopping guides, comics, crossword puzzles and self-published books.
That means no J. A. Konrath, no Amanda Hocking, no–well, no anybody who isn’t with a traditional publisher. No matter how many books they sell. Even if they sell more books than the ones listed on the New York Times list.
But, hey, it’s a start, right? What do you think?
The eBook Evangelist 
I personally think that’s unfair. It will probably change in the distant future. What they can do for now is to make separate category. One with traditional publishing and another with overall( including non-traditional publishing) to make their report accurate and fair.
You bring up an interesting point: The NY Times could make it a separate category if they wanted to. It will be interesting to see how much of an effort they make to be more inclusive in the list. That will let us know if they are really interested in covering the entire industry or if it is just business as usual and catering to the big publishers who buy the ads.
Thanks for stopping by! 🙂