Researchers use physics to analyze dynamics of bestsellers

A glowing report in The New York Times or a public relations blitz might send a book's sales soaring temporarily, but such heady buzz doesn't hold up like good old-fashioned word-of-mouth, says a group of researchers that includes a University of California, Berkeley, graduate student.
The researchers, who recently published a report in the journal Physical Review Letters, used a statistical physics model for complex systems to analyze the dynamics of commercial success for 138 books on Amazon.com's Top 50 list between 2002 and 2004 and to quantify consumer behavior.

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<p><a href="http://www.physorg.com/news2207.html">Researchers use physics to analyze dynamics of bestsellers</a></p> <p>A glowing report in The New York Times or a public relations blitz might send a book's sales soaring temporarily, but such heady buzz doesn't hold up like good old-fashioned word-of-mouth, says a group of researchers that includes a University of California, Berkeley, graduate student. <br>The researchers, who recently published a report in the journal Physical Review Letters, used a statistical physics model for complex systems to analyze the dynamics of commercial success for 138 books on Amazon.com's Top 50 list between 2002 and 2004 and to quantify consumer behavior. <br></p>