Barnes & Noble issued a brief preliminary report on bookstore sales for the nine-week holiday period, saying that comparable store sales rose 9.7 percent through January 1. Results were driven by the the Nook reading devices, with BN saying they had the largest single day of store sales in the company’s history on December 23. They will report more details on January 6, when we may get a better glimpse of how book sales held up. Most notable about today’s report is that results were ahead of the company’s own forecast at the end of November, when they told analysts […]
Archives for January 2011
The Final List: Naming the Best of the Best of 2010
You’ve seen the dozens of lists we have linked to over the past six weeks or so and now here is the complete and final tabulation of the very best of the “best of 2010” lists. We have compiled lists from 30 sources in all (itemized at the bottom) to determine the consensus favorites shown below. For each title we show the total number of “votes” received, and this year in a new twist we have endeavored to list the editors and agents behind the books as well. For those who prefer a neater Top 10 overall list, we have […]
Agent Jonathan Dolger, 72, Dies
Sadly we report the first obituary of the new year: Jonathan Dolger, renowned editor and agent, and husband of Jane Isay, died on New Year’s Day. He was 72. A longtime editor at Simon & Schuster and Harper, he published The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck, Against our Will, by Susan Brownmiller, and many popular novels including Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Oh, God, and To An Early Grave. As an agent he represented Scott Peck, Rebecca Wells, and many others. He was treasured for his wit, warmth and excellent judgment. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, January […]
Nielsen BookScan UK’s Top 50 Books of 2010
The Guardian has downloadable spreadsheets of the top 100 books of the year in the UK, along with the top 100 books since Nielsen BookScan started collecting UK point-of-sale data in 1998. Here are the top 50 books of last year. Despite all the opening-day attention for former prime minister Tony Blair, he finishes the year in 27th place: 1 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 1,156,530 2 The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest Stieg Larsson 995,845 3 The Girl Who Played with Fire Stieg Larsson 957,063 4 Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals Jamie Oliver 874,546 5 The Lost […]