WizBangTV's Jen Oliver is mildly fascinated by the idea of 'The Long Tail' and so I thought I would give it's success a shout out. Holla.

Don't quite get it? Try a visual breakdown on the left of this article.

"The Long Tail," a best seller about the growing importance of the niche market in today's economy, was among five books on the short list on Tuesday for the Business Book of the Year award.

The book, by Wired magazine writer Chris Anderson, argues that because of the wide choice available through retailers such as Amazon.com, total sales of products that are in low demand can outweigh the sales of the relatively small number of blockbuster products.

Also on the short list for the prize was "Small Giants," a book by Bo Burlingham of Inc. magazine about maverick companies such as San Francisco microbrewery Anchor Brewing that pass up the pursuit of growth and focus instead on becoming great companies.

"The Wal-Mart Effect," by Fast Company magazine senior editor Charles Fishman, is an investigation of the far-reaching power of the world's biggest retailer to affect the economies of whole countries.