Writers Tricks of the Trade Volume 6 Issue 3 | Page 12

NYT BEST SELLERS LIST
JULY 17, 2016
NYT Complete Lists

ALIENATING READERS (Cont’d)
previous example, the bashing was so blatant it should’ve been on the political
discussion instead of the fiction shelf.

COMBINED PRINT & EBOOK FICTION

LOST A FAN

1. THE GAMES, BY JAMES
PATTERSON AND MARK

Those two authors lost a fan. This has nothing to do with whether I
agree with them or not. It’s that I bought a book from them under false
pretenses.

SULLIVAN

2. ME BEFORE YOU, BY
JOJO MOYES
3. FIRST COMES LOVE, BY
EMILY GIFFIN
4. SHADOW RIDER, BY
CHRISTINE FEEHAN
5. THE GIRLS, BY EMMA
CLINE

COMBINED PRINT & EBOOK NONFICTION
1. CRISIS OF CHARACTER,
BY GARY J. BYRNE WITH
GRANT A. SCHMIDT
2. WHEN BREATH
BECOMES AIR BY PAUL
KALANATHI

Before you think I’m just a dirty liberal weenie, I’ve had the same thing
happen from the liberal side also. I’ve read thrillers that did nothing but bash
either Dubya or #1. They pissed me off also, but at the time, I wasn’t as keen a
reviewer as I am now and probably didn’t give as harsh a review. If I did, it was
probably not just for that but for the writing or plot. It’s actually been quite a
while since I’ve seen a thriller that bashed the conservative side as blatantly as
these bashed the liberal side. I’m sure they’re out there.

WRITERS CAN’T HELP SOME BIAS
As humans, we can’t help innate bias to some degree. However, we can
and should not preach if we expect to appeal to a