A Dashboard of NYT Bestselling Authors

The New York Times Bestsellers list has been commended and rebuffed over the years but its influence and reach is unignorable. While not definitive, it may be fair to say that the list is a good indicator of the books that are being read and talked about in the United States.

This made me wonder what people think of these books and their authors. How do they perceive the authors and their books? I also wondered if the list has become more diverse over the years.

I created a dataset of all New York Times Bestsellers in the 'Combined Print & E-Book Fiction' category from 2011 to the end of 2023. I then scraped their corresponding authors on Goodreads to see how readers rated their books and to get their birthplaces.

This is a work-in-progress dashboard where I try to make sense of the reading habits of Americans through the lens of the New York Times Bestsellers list.

The Origin Story: Birthplaces of Authors

Use the slider to see the birthplaces of NYT bestselling authors over the years.

Hover over each dot to see the name of the author.

Have authors become more diverse over time?

US born authors continue to dominate the list. They are followed by UK-born authors.

In fact, the dominance of American authors has hardly seen any change over the years, despite what we might have expected.