Last week the NY Times announced it will begin publishing ebook bestseller lists for fiction and nonfiction early next year. Weekly data for the list will come from publishers, booksellers, online bookstores, and "other sources."

According to the article, the NYT has spent the past two years creating a system that "tracks and verifies ebook sales." Hmm. It's clear Kindle sales are by far the largest bulk of ebook sales at this time, so it would seem the Kindle bestseller list would largely drive the new NYT lists. However, Amazon doesn't like to share its data, so exactly how is the NYT going to get Kindle sales? Apparently from the publishers. Which would mean said publishers will need to be accurate and trustworthy in reporting their data. The NYT says it is "aggressively developing a means of processing and displaying the information necessary, and of verifying the data provided." [...]

Check out the full post on Brandilyn's blog, Forensics & Faith!