The annual season of round-ups and predictions covered not just the years past and ahead, but a full decade. We’ll be sharing our own thoughts on the biggest trade developments of the past ten years but first we’re leading the most significant thing that didn’t change at all in the oughts. Though there are regular predictions that the big six publishers will change and consolidate (Bob Miller is just the latest to suggest “the big six could be the big three in five years), we find it rather striking when you realize that the list of the biggest US trade […]
Industry Statistics
How the NBA Nominees Have Fared
With the National Book Award winners due to be announced on Wednesday evening, we took a look at what the marketplace has had to say so far about the fiction nominees. Unfortunately, the NBA nominations traditionally do not have a lot of impact on the marketplace. In both total sales to date as well as sales since the nominations were announced, Colum McCann’s LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN is the clear stand-out. With just under 2,400 copies sold in the last three full weeks as recorded by Nielsen BookScan, he has outsold the rest of the field combined (the other […]
E-Stats and More
Amazon has realized it was silly in a competitive world to offer international Kindle for $20 more, while keeping US-only Kindle going. So now the have reduced the price on the international model to $259, and will no longer sell the US-only model. Buyers who already paid more are being issued $20 reunfds. Separately, Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener confirms the obvious–that SuperKindle will acquire the same international capability “sometime next year.” Meanwhile, the promised offers bundling SuperKindle with newspaper subscriptions are just beginning–but it’s hard to see the value proposition for customers. In the Washington Post’s trial offer, SuperK is […]
Sales Stats, the Week After
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 […]
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.”