>most people weren't necessarily familiar with the game of thrones or lord of the rings either

how many weeks were the books on the NYT Bestseller list ?

​

A Game of Thrones is the first novel in A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin. It was first published on August 1, 1996. The novel won the 1997 Locus Award[2] and was nominated for both the 1997 Nebula Award[2] and the 1997 World Fantasy Award.[3]

​

The books have sold 90 million copies worldwide as of April 2019,

​

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings

The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling books ever written, with over 150 million copies sold

​

>alot of people would have also just considered them niche nerd stuff until the films and tv shows came out.

​

the latest ones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptations_of_The_Lord_of_the_Rings

​

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings#Reception

In the 2003 "Big Read" survey conducted in Britain by the BBC, The Lord of the Rings was found to be the "Nation's best-loved book". In similar 2004 polls both Germany[93] and Australia[94] chose The Lord of the Rings as their favourite book. In a 1999 poll of Amazon.com customers, The Lord of the Rings was judged to be their favourite "book of the millennium".[95] In 2019, the BBC News listed The Lord of the Rings on its list of the 100 most influential novels.[96]