There are two reasons Sarah Palin's book is at the top of the bestsellers list

[Gman]

1) Right wing nut but mega-money organizations are buying it up (like Newsmax giving it away for $5)

2) Everyone else that wants to see just how friggin' stupid this woman really is. It's a morbid curiosity. Kinda like the town folks who went to see the wreck of the Old 97



I like this pic so much I thought I'd make an OP out of it. It describes Sarah Palin perfectly.

[Paper Roses]

1. Put me in column 2. My reading will not add to the

best seller count however. I'll wait until it hits the dollar shelves at Dollar Tree.
I will need a good laugh and I don't think it will be long before I can get that book.

After reading, it will make good firewood.

[Wapsie B]

2. Probably more #1 than anything else. But I'll wait until it gets dumped on the remainder market

and buy it @ Dollar General in a few months.

[Gman]

3. Probably more like a couple of weeks

[FormerDittoHead]

4. My take on why it's number 1 - Republicans are hacking the system AGAIN.

First off, it's not like being number 1 at the box office or TV ratings. Getting #1 in books is a matter of selling somewhere like 30,000 books.

Next, book sales are determined not by publisher but by a SURVEY OF BOOK SELLERS.

I have ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT IN MY MIND that the Republicans have HACKED THIS AGAIN (they did it BEFORE - but I can't google it right now) and use it to prop up Coulter, etc.

[fasttense]

5. If a RepubliCON can rig a statistic she will.

Republicons have figured out which book stores are used to estimate the NYT best sellers list and other best seller lists. It's not hard. A few phone calls, a few bribes and you have the store names.

Then right wing front groups go and order mass quantities from those stores. But, and here is the tricky part, you can't order too many all at once or you get put on a different list and wont affect the best sellers list. So, they order the maximum number of books allowed. And suddenly you have a best seller by an idiot.

[Javaman]

6. or 3) People are in a painful need of a new doorstop. nt

[RadicalGeek]

7. It also helps

When you have AM-Radio and it's cable news affiliate to help promote it.
This is also why when a book like House of Bush--House of Saud or God Delusion does well it's such a surprise.