The concept that concerns us in this round is of English origin, but as with so many other terms from the English language, they managed to transcend their own “border” and so much so that they have been adopted as their own in languages like ours, the Spanish.
It is composed of two English words, best, which refers to the best, and seller, for its part indicates seller, while the compound that both terms make up allows to account for the most seller in some category, especially books, records, etc.
Books, movies ... that achieve a tremendous amount of sales and are positioned among the best sellers in the rankings
So, we call Best seller To them books, movies, records or video games, which immediately achieve a huge amount of sales and by case as a result of the enormous impact they achieve among the public, who buys and buys them, become part of the list of the best sellers in each category.
Although it is a concept made up of terms that correspond to the English language, as we have already pointed out, its dissemination in this way is such that it has already been accepted as its own in other languages although the concept is made up of two foreign terms, as it happens in the Spanish language that has already adopted it as an integral part of its terms.
In any case, it also has its own name in Spanish: bestseller, but of course, it is much less used compared to the Best Seller, since mostly those proposals that achieve large sales appear named this way in bookstores or in the media.
Artistic or academic value of a work, although this is not always the case in best sellers
In some cases, although they are the least, the term is also used to highlight the artistic or academic value of a work.
However, in either case, calling this or that book a Best Seller does not necessarily imply that it has a high academic or artistic quality, but rather implies a high level of dissemination and sales.
Creating a best seller
But another issue also comes into play in this complex network of Best Sellers because it is also a constant and resounding reality that many Best Sellers reach this level neither as a consequence of their artistic quality, nor because of who the author is but actually They do it because of the magnificent and organized propaganda promotions that publishers organize in their wake, who first take into account the tastes, expectations and demands of consumers when reading, for example, and then with these results in the hand, they put to work to promote that work that responds precisely to those preferences, expectations and demands, that is, they produce what the public wants and it is more than certain that by satisfying their demands it will be a bestseller.
Higher valuation of course will have those cases that do not start with that proposal and that become number one because the public suddenly chooses them and not because they are the result of a finely planned strategy.
Entering the Best Seller lists, in addition to paving the way for publishers when it comes to promoting the same among their potential buyers, also turns out to be widely beneficial for the authors of the works who can achieve with a publication what a Writer always yearns: to be read and an increase in both his prestige and the bank account. And not to mention the possibility of continuing to write, that is, to achieve a succulent contract with a publisher in monetary matters and also to be maintained over time.
A traditional step for the best seller: jump to the movies
The Harry Potter, Twilight, and 50 Shades of Gray sagas, written by JK Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, and EL James, respectively, are some recent best-seller examples that once shocked readers and racked up sales records, the industry's most Marketer of the seventh art, always attentive to this type of phenomenon, she took care to generate the corresponding adaptations to transfer this fabulous impact to the cinema.
And boy, did he more than achieve it too, because all these stories that we just mentioned that became arch-famous in books, later, they knew how to transport that success to the box office of the cinemas and exploded the box office.
By this we mean that it is usually a common and common step that a best seller is later co-opted by the cinema universe to achieve a similar audience record, but in movie theaters.
