Stephenie Meyer’s MIDNIGHT SUN sold more than 1 million units in its first week on sale, according to publisher Little, Brown Children’s. During a virtual Books-a-Million event, Meyer told fans: “There are two more books I think in the [Twlight] world that I want to write. I have got them outlined and a chapter written I think of the first one, so I know it’s there. I am not ready to do that right now, I want to do something brand-new. For me, a lot of the joy of writing comes from creating and I really want to do a […]
Opening Sales
Briefs: Opening Trump Sales, Eason’s Layoffs and More
Simon & Schuster announced that Mary Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man sold more than 950,000 units in the US in its first day on sale, July 14. That sets “a company record.” (The previous record-holder was Bob Woodward’s FEAR, which the company had said sold 900,000 units on opening day in November 2018, and over 1.1 million units in its first week on sale.) A fourteenth hardcover printing on order will bring them to more than 1.15 million copies in print. Irish bookseller Eason’s will close all seven of their […]
Briefs: Strong Opening Sales for Bolton
Simon & Schuster announced Wednesday morning that John Bolton’s THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED: A White House Memoir sold “a total of more than 780,000” units in its first week on sale in the US. Note, however, that the total includes “orders from consumers that are as yet unfulfilled due to extraordinary demand,” which is unusual for a “sales” tabulation by industry practice. (Remember that the publisher told the court it had shipped approximately 200,000 copies to accounts in the US.) The publisher says it has an eleventh printing on the way that will bring the number of hardcovers in […]
People, Etc.
John Donovan will join Norton’s UK subsidiary, W.W. Norton & Company as managing director, starting July 1. Donovan was most recently regional director, UK and Europe, for McGraw Hill Education. Current managing director Edward Crutchley will retire in July, though he will continue to serve on the governing board of W.W. Norton. Heidi Luedemann has been promoted to contracts director, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, succeeding the late Bill Shannon, effective immediately, and reporting to David Sanford, senior vp, executive director, contracts & permissions, Penguin Random House US. Awards The James Beard Foundation presented their book awards Wednesday afternoon, with The […]
Continuing Strong Sales For American Dirt, A Very Stable Genius
AMERICAN DIRT by Jeanine Cummins sold another 36,000 hardcovers in its second week on sale, as tracked by NPD Bookscan. That left it as the clear No. 1 title in adult fiction — though A VERY STABLE GENIUS by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker remained the No. 1 title overall, growing in its second week with sales of 59,000 hardcovers, followed by PROFILES IN CORRUPTION by Peter Schweizer as the No. 2 title, ahead of American Dirt. For the same sales week, Bookstat.com estimated additional sales of 21,400 ebooks for American Dirt, and 16,700 digital audios. In those formats, it […]
The NYT’s Book Factory, Howard Stern Opens Again, and More
“The [NY] Times has become a book-deal factory,” a journalist there tells Vanity Fair. “I don’t think the Times has ever seen this number of requests” from staff for book leave. The magazine reports that one of the most recent deals is Rachel Abrams and James B. Stewart writing about Les Moonves and CBS and Les Moonves, for Ann Godoff at Penguin Press. All those book deals can drain reporting resources, and staff has not necessarily been following protocol. In early May executive editor Dean Baquet and assistant managing editor Carolyn Ryan sent a memo that “was a stern and […]