Ezra and Dan consider the concept (dream?) of bestseller-dom and what it might take to get there.

Links:

Links:

Brook Warner’s essay on best sellers

List of best-selling books - Wikipedia 

New York Times: This Year’s Surprise Hit Novels

Novelr: The New York Times Beatseller Lists Explained

About those 12 copies…

Ezra and Dan both got it wrong, at least a bit. That data comes from Kristen McLean, an analyst at Circana (formerly Bookscan).  Here's some background from data scientist Simon Willison. You can follow his links to related stories.