Talk:List of best-selling books

LOTR

The main page for LOTR states that it has sold over 150 million. If Don Quixotes estimate is included in the list of over 100 million, I don’t see why we can’t also include the LOTR estimate. 2603:6010:11F0:3C0:D80E:D3BA:EFAE:8CD1 (talk) 03:10, 25 March 2023 (UTC)

That's explained in the first paragraph of the lead. CodeTalker (talk) 15:23, 25 March 2023 (UTC)

There is a dilemma: Don Quixote is quoted in this paragraph as a book that lack comprehensive sales figures and cannot be in the list. But it is still included in the list with a unreliable source...

I decide to remove it to be consistent. Let's discuss here if that's a problem. Bernhard Brigge (talk) 12:55, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

Thank you. Part of the reason Don Quixote is mentioned in the lead is that people keep re-adding it. It is a very substantial book, and the widely spread estimates of 500m copies (present in our article for some time, before the more "modest" 100m) would be equivalent, for example of 150 years of sales at the level of the US bestseller for 1961 (Return to Peyton Place which siled 3.3 million copies that year). All the best: Rich Farmbrough 22:12, 11 February 2024 (UTC).

Frank Herbert's Dune series

I am not a Wikipedia author, so I leave that to the experts. However, the Dune series should probably be included within the "book series" category. The first book in the 7 book series by Herbert is listed on the page with a sales total of 20,000,000. The others are likely less, but would definitely bump this series much higher as a whole. There have also been maybe another twenty books published within the same universe since the author's death by his son, Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson. 184.152.35.170 (talk) 17:26, 25 June 2023 (UTC)

Added. If we had figures for the rest of the series we could of course calculate the total, but for now I have put it as 20 million plus. All the best: Rich Farmbrough 19:28, 11 February 2024 (UTC).

Number of copies of sold of Your Erroneous Zones is erroneous

Number of copies sold seems to be wrong. This source says it's 100 million sold worldwide:

Yairharel (talk) 00:55, 20 April 2024 (UTC)

Don Quixote - Let's just get this over with

DemianStratford is the latest user to add Don Quixote to this list with the widely contested figure of 500 million. The consensus ever since 2008 has been to exclude Don Quixote from the list due to it lacking a comprehensive, reliable sales figure and the "500 million" figure lacking basis in reliable sources. Yet, over the course of four days since the most recent addition, only two challenges have been made, both of which were promptly reverted. And this isn't the first time someone has added this entry; the last time it was added in September 2023, I reverted it due to it lacking reliable sources nine days after the edit in question. Right now, I object to including Don Quixote to this list. I want to try to settle this once and for all without turning this into an edit war.

To Demian's credit, he does supply sources that are more reputable than the ones I previously reverted. However, this does not mean they are good enough. Looking at the sources include, we got a random trivia game by Britannica, a BBC listicle aimed at children, a listicle from the questionable Business Insider, a listicle by a book publisher that might suffer from citogenesis, a random writer's advice blog, and a listicle from a website that specializes in geography. I do not find these to be sufficient sources for backing up the "500 million" claim, especially since such a figure would be unheard of for a book. Exceptional claims require exceptional sources.

However, the main reason why I believe Don Quixote should not be included is Professor William Egginton's The Man Who Invented Fiction. While he never mentions the claimed 500 million sales figure, in footnote 20 of the introduction, Egginton addresses the similar claim that Cervantes is the "most widely read author of all time" and that Don Quixote is the "most published work of literature in history". I believe his argument strongly applies in this discussion as it pretty much serves as an academic vindication of our rationale since 2008. Egginton states that while the claim bestseller status of Don Quixote has a "rational basis" due to the sheer number of editions and translations over the span of 400 years, it is a "speculative and ultimately unprovable claim" and "we cannot how know how many copies have been made, sold, or, much less, read in the four hundred years since Don Quixote was first published". Egginton is a university professor, prolific writer, and researcher that specializes in Spanish literature and he is saying that we don't know the actual sales figure of Don Quixote. The claimed figure of 500 million is unverifiable.

TL;DR the sources used for the latest attempt including Don Quixote are insufficient to actually support a questionable sales figure that, as corroborated by a prolific university professor, is impossible to determine with any degree of certainty. As such, I move to revert this and any additional attempt at including Don Quixote in the list unless an excellent, high-quality source can be found declaring once-and-for-all the sales figure of the novel. Lazman321 (talk) 05:11, 28 April 2024 (UTC)

There is unlikely to ever be such a source for that or Tale of Two Cities as given at the moment. We really need a FAQ.

Please feel free to remove any entry you feel is insufficiently well sourced. We can discuss here if there is disagreement.

All the best: Rich Farmbrough 13:22, 9 May 2024 (UTC).

Another dubious claim The Ginger Man

While our 45 million is less than some claims for this book (60 million is the most I've seen) not only is this prima facie a very unlikely figure, in 2010 the touted figure was over 2 million. Adding to the uncertainty in this case the author bought the publisher. All the best: Rich Farmbrough 06:44, 9 May 2024 (UTC).

The Alchemist

Our sources are not great for this one. This article from 2014 gives a claim of 65 million, far less than the 140 million we give, though maybe it has sold another 75 million in the subsequent decade. All the best: Rich Farmbrough 13:18, 9 May 2024 (UTC).