I have recently discovered a good blog about ereader news. There have been several interesting articles, but one that caught me by surprise was post about services that allow you (for a price) to buy your way onto the New York Times and Wall Street Journal Best Seller lists. it is not cheap, the service essentially buys your book in really large quantities gets you on the lists and then returns or resells your book.
According to a Wall Street Journal article that is cited several books have had 99% drops in sales the week after getting on the list because they paid to be on the list.
I have the same response that the blogger that wrote the article, the best recommendations are word of mouth or real people like Goodreads.
The opening paragraph of the blog
First, it was the book reviews. News broke last year that authors could buy five-star reviews for next to nothing, helping to boost their sales while duping potential readers into thinking this was a not-to-be-missed read. Shortly after, unscrupulously business-minded authors discovered they could also pay those same reviewers to spit out one-star reviews on the title that directly competed with their books, dropping the overall ratings. That is compounded with the popularity contests behind some of the mega-reviewers who are apparently on a mission to hold the record for most book reviews, spitting out dozens of so-called reviews per day.
Fortunately, readers could trust the major bestseller lists, especially now that indie authors were finally getting the credit some of them deserve. Until it came to light that authors can also buy a spot on the bestseller list, that is.
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