While Amazon did not respond directly to our request for information for Kindle sales information for THE FOUR-HOUR CHEF, company publishing vp Jeff Belle claims in a letter (posted in full by PaidContent) that their total sale is over 60,000 units so far (or roughly 30,000 of those $4.99 ebooks in addition to the print sales we reported on Wednesday morning; the December 9 NYT bestseller lists show FOUR-HOUR CHEF at No. 4 on the advice, how-to and misc. list). Belle says the Ferriss book was the bestselling nonfiction title for the week, though their own list for all of November shows it in fourth place, with two other nonfiction titles–Bill O’Reilly’s KILLING KENNEDY and Eben Alexander’s PROOF OF HEAVEN–ranking higher.
The main point of the letter is to confirm the expansion of Amazon Publishing, with current West Coast group publisher Vicky Griffith relocating to Luxembourg “early next year.” Their focus will still be on English-language titles, to sell across Amazon stores in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, and they “will begin staffing a team of editors and marketers” for the European unit.
Larry Kirshbaum will add responsibility for the West Coast imprints and Amazon Children’s; Daphne Durham will become editor-in-chief for all adult imprints, reporting to Kirshbaum. West coast-based marketing chief Mikyla Bruder will oversee global marketing efforts across all imprints, and Philip Patrick will now officially lead business development, rights and sales teams across all imprints.