According to Nielsen BookScan numbers released yesterday for sales through last Saturday, September 26, in the outlets tracked by the service Dan Brown’s THE LOST SYMBOL sold another 401,000 copies. (NB that BookScan does not currently include ebook sales. And in the UK, Symbol sold another 175,040 copies, reported by The Bookseller.) Diana Gabaldon’s AN ECHO IN THE BONE had the best opening sale for a new book last week, moving approximately 94,000 units. Second-week sales for Ted Kennedy’s TRUE COMPASS were approximately 69,000 copies, and the first full week of sales for the Oprah edition of Uwem Akpan’s SAY […]
Industry Statistics
Over 2 Million Units for Dan Brown, and More Numbers from Publishing's Big Week
Yesterday Random House announced sales of “more than two million” units of Dan Brown’s THE LOST SYMBOL in all editions (including audio and ebook) throughout the world in the first week on sale, through Monday. They call it “the biggest one-week sale in Random House history for a single title.” Per yesterday’s Lunch, Nielsen BookScan UK reports through The Bookseller that over a quarter of those units–at least 551,000 copies–were sold in the UK. Doubleday’s Suzanne Herz indicated to the AP that “around 5 percent, or 100,000 copies” were sold as ebooks, and the WSJ confirms that sales within the […]
Amazon Says That, Excluding Pre-Orders, Lost Symbol Sold More Kindle Units on Day One than Print Books
Calling it “the big surprise” (if they do say so themselves)–and pretty much confirming the importance of those pre-publication deliberations on issuing a simultaneous ebook edition–Amazon makes this report by e-mail to the WSJ. Of course the pre-orders were significant, so that exclusion is a big one. Also, Doubleday clarified yesterday afternoon that they sold over 1 million units–print and electronic–in the book’s first day on sale. Separately, while Twelve declined to quantify opening results for Ted Kennedy’s TRUE COMPASS, spokesman Cary Goldstein says “our opening day reports have unquestionably exceeded expectations.”
Bookselling
Independent bookstore Frog Hollow Books in downtown Halifax, Canada is closing shortly after 25 years in business. CBC In Germany, leading bookselling chain Thalia reported a same-store sales increase of 0.8 percent.PublishingPerspectives
VSS Sees Books Faring Better than Other Traditional Media
Private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson has released their annual media forecasts. They say that 2008 marks “the first time consumers spent more time with media they paid for, like books or cable television, than with primarily ad-supported media, like newspapers and magazines.” Among traditional media businesses, VSS sees book publishing holding on better than most: “newspapers, consumer magazines, TV and radio are shrinking and will not, in that period of time, get back to what they saw before,” evp James P. Rutherfurd tells the NYT. But John Suhler adds, “these businesses are going to be around for many, many […]
Kindle Krunching: Week 2
With a second week of data, we’re still looking for the impact (if any) of Kindle sales as reflected in the broader USA Today chart. As was the case last week, Kathryn Stockett does seems to be getting a big Kindle boost. Almost every other title on the Kindle Top 10 declined overall in the USA Today list, though. Daniel Silva and Jennifer Weiner had the top two hardcover fiction titles for the week, but Weiner did less well relatively with the Kindle audience. Here’s our chart, ranking the books according to their position on the Kindle bestseller list, with […]