Useful for writers, not readers? (Score 1)

I'm not sure how useful bestsellers stats are for readers. My agent keeps pounding into me that word of mouth is your best advertising medium, and I've come to believe him. In fact, I think I value the recommendations of friends much higher than some page or TV spot telling me what I'll like. As a writer, I feel that my books are my best advertising, and my readers are my best advertising reps. That said, a big problem with being a novelist these days is that the publishers hold sales data very close to their chests. It's almost impossible for us lowly scribes to get any sales numbers, not at least for a year or two after the book comes out... so for us, an objective third-party measure of our success could be very useful in making critical career decisions--such as, I _think_ my latest book's a hit; should I quit my job to write full time now?