Tony Blair’s memoir A JOURNEY sold 92,060 copies in the UK in the first four days on sale, in outlets tracked by Nielsen BookScan UK (which covers nearly the entire market over there). That qualifies as the biggest opening for a memoir since Nielsen started recording book sales in 1998, the Bookseller reports, though Margaret Thatcher’s THE DOWNING STREET YEARS was estimated to have sold 120,000 copies when it was first released in 1993.Bookseller In more Blair news, his “secret” book party is going ahead as planned tomorrow night at the Tate Modern, despite threats of protest from the Stop […]
Bestseller Radar
Mockingjay’s Big Opening Sends Scholastic Back to Press
Scholastic announced that they have sold more than 450,000 print and ebook copies of Suzanne Collins’ MOCKINGJAY in the first week on sale, and have gone back to press for another 400,000 copies. Print sales in outlets tracked by Nielsen BookScan were a little over 350,000 copies in the first five days of sale, through August 28. That easily ranks among the biggest opening weeks this year, well above even the opening sale for even Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest in May. (Little, Brown Children’s said they sold 350,000 units of Stephenie Meyer’s The Short Second […]
Ingraham’s Book As Bestselling “Nonfiction”
Media Matters is worked up that the New York Times bestseller list charts Laura Ingraham’s THE OBAMA DIARIES as nonfiction “even though it is clearly a fictional creation.” But Sam Tanenhaus uses the MILLIE’S BOOK defense, and says “there seems to be a history on the best-seller list that if a book deals in a direct way with politics and campaigns or current events then it has been historically listed as non-fiction.” He adds, “we do see books of this nature and you do not dignify them by calling them fiction. In the end, it is a kind of political […]
Think of a Number (or Price) that Can Make Your eBook a Bestseller
While most big publishers have forsaken ebook giveaways as a business-effective way to establish new frontlist (with thanks to Chris Anderson for helping to prove the limits of FREE), price experimentation is gaining adherents as a way of highlighting new authors in a crowded marketplace while still driving at least some revenue. Crown has experimented with a promotional price window to highlight novelist (and former ad executive) John Verdon’s debut effort THINK OF A NUMBER, acquired at auction in a major three-book deal last September. For two weeks right after publication they offered the ebook edition at a digital list […]
Meyer Tops A Million
Little, Brown Children’s says that it has sold over a million copies of Stephenie Meyer’s novella A THE SHORT SECOND LIFE OF BREE TANNER since its release on June 5–making it “the biggest selling new book of the year so far.” In other publisher announcements, Bantam will release Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow’s THE GRAND DESIGN on September 7.
Book News: Auel Date, Larsson Strong Out the Gate
Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards indicates that the third and final book in Stieg Larsson’s bestselling trilogy, THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST, had estimated first-day unit sales (in print and digital combined) in excess of 250,000 units. Two reprints just ordered will bring them up to 900,000 copies in print, as Bogaards celebrates that “we finally have a book that is driving traffic into stores…. The hope is that Larsson will prompt other sales, especially as the summer lists from publishers across the board look very strong – with standout work coming from Justin Cronin, Bret Easton Ellis, Samantha […]