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Talk:List of best-selling books

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Here's the issue. If someone sees a claim missing that they "know" to be true they will add it back. This article, unfortunately, is the major source for third party claims of numbers of books sold, that are then used as sources. I happen to believe that the HP claims are substantially correct, as
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it is a modern book published by a reputable publisher. However some of the other top ranked items are almost certainly wrong, in some cases I have spent considerable time researching them. I believe that we need an RFC to resolve these longstanding issues, and if necessary an AFD. All the best:
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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
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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
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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
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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
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which puts the number at around 60 million, a much more realistic estimate. 500 million is just preposterous for a non-religious book and any source claiming such a high number cannot be taken seriously unless they provide some hard evidence.--
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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
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I also could not verify the sales figures myself through other sources. In the edit summary of my removal, I asked that if anyone disagreed, we could discuss it in the talk page.
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time someone has added this entry; the last time it was added in September 2023, I reverted it due to it lacking reliable sources
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Please feel free to remove any entry you feel is insufficiently well sourced. We can discuss here if there is disagreement.
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in the list unless an excellent, high-quality source can be found declaring once-and-for-all the sales figure of the novel.
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I'd support an RfC, though not an AfD, to resolve the issues this list currently has. In the meantime, I've removed the
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While our 45 million is less than some claims for this book (60 million is the most I've seen) not only is this
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to this list with the widely contested figure of 500 million. The consensus ever since 2008 has been to exclude
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to this list. I want to try to settle this once and for all without turning this into an edit war.
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on Knowledge. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join
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university professor, prolific writer, and researcher that specializes in Spanish literature
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Number of copies sold seems to be wrong. This source says it's 100 million sold worldwide:
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Wikipedians have their own word for malignant and self-sustaining cycles of this kind:
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from 2014 gives a claim of 65 million, far less than the 140 million we give, though
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it has sold another 75 million in the subsequent decade. All the best:
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WP:RSN#Hypable, Fansided, and Wordsrated in list of best-selling books
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that I find to be even more questionable, considering it comes from a
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a listicle by a book publisher that might suffer from citogenesis
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and he is saying that we don't know the actual sales figure of
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Number of copies of sold of Your Erroneous Zones is erroneous
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TL;DR the sources used for the latest attempt including
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There is unlikely to ever be such a source for that or
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a listicle from a website that specializes in geography
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a very unlikely figure, in 2010 the touted figure was
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Why is Anne Franks diary not marked as non-fiction?
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If you wish to help, please visit the 443:discuss matters related to book articles 1271:Knowledge pages referenced by the press 1055:Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 858:However, the main reason why I believe 796: 762: 573: 480: 451:relevant guideline for the type of work 386: 281: 1236:Top-importance Bibliographies articles 1107:tool. So, to complete the process of 7: 1097:I had removed from this list with a 886:was first published". Egginton is a 862:should not be included is Professor 818:nine days after the edit in question 607:This article is within the scope of 510:This article is within the scope of 429:This article is within the scope of 347:Knowledge:WikiProject Bibliographies 327:This article is within the scope of 820:. Right now, I object to including 350:Template:WikiProject Bibliographies 270:It is of interest to the following 23:for discussing improvements to the 1231:List-Class Bibliographies articles 829:a random trivia game by Britannica 14: 721:mentioned by a media organization 661:mentioned by a media organization 833:a BBC listicle aimed at children 710: 650: 600: 575: 503: 482: 416: 406: 388: 314: 304: 283: 252: 221: 45:Click here to start a new topic. 800:- Let's just get this over with 729:Douglas Merrell (5 June 2017). 671:"The all-conquering Knowledge?" 669:Peter Thonemann (26 May 2016). 623:Knowledge:WikiProject Retailing 554:This article has been rated as 367:This article has been rated as 1126:Started similar discussion at 626:Template:WikiProject Retailing 1: 845:a random writer's advice blog 341:and see a list of open tasks. 42:Put new text under old text. 1261:Mid-importance List articles 869:The Man Who Invented Fiction 1216:11:45, 13 August 2024 (UTC) 1201:11:17, 13 August 2024 (UTC) 534:Knowledge:WikiProject Lists 459:Knowledge:WikiProject Books 50:New to Knowledge? 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