After a round of layoffs at USA Today, the longtime editor of the USA Today bestseller list, Mary Cadden, lost her job. She had produced the list since 2007; the list itself had been published since 1993. The last list to appear was through Nov. 27. A statement at the site says, “The USA TODAY Best-Selling Books list is on hiatus as we make plans for 2023.” The rumor mill suggests that it is unlikely to return.
The USA Today list was notable for how it was compiled: It ranked books based on unit sales alone, regardless of format and price point. That made it the only national bestseller list outside of Amazon that remained friendly to self-publishing authors who sell high quantities of ebooks at low price points. Victoria Strauss at Writer Beware pointed out that pay-to-play anthology and boxed set organizers have lost a selling point, as they often have a goal of hitting the list through low pricing and group marketing. Bestselling romance novelist Sarah MacLean said of the list, “You get a broader view of the publishing industry and what people are reading. For a genre like mine, which is often forgotten, the USA Today list was invaluable.”
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
