Doubleday reports to us that Dan Brown’s INFERNO sold 1 million units in the US and Canada in its first five days on sale, through Saturday, in print and ebook sales combined. The company did not break out the distribution between formats, but the Nielsen Bookscan count would indicate that ebooks slightly outsold print versions. The actual first printing was 2.3 million copies, so Doubleday should have ample print inventory for now. In 2009, Brown’s THE LOST SYMBOL sold “more than 2 million units” in the first week on sale, but that was inclusive of the UK edition, which sold […]
Opening Sales
Ferriss Falls Short of Sales Goal So Far, Behind Garten (and Others)
Despite his well-covered persecution publicity pitch, it looks as if Tim Ferriss will come up short of his proclaimed goal for THE FOUR-HOUR CHEF of “hit[ting] #1 on BookScan to send a message to the incumbent world of publishing, to those who want everything to remain in the 1900’s.” For the week ending November 25, its first week on sale, the hardcover edition sold approximately 29,000 copies as tracked by Nielsen Bookscan. (Since nearly all sales were likely via Amazon and BN.com, the service likely captures nearly all of the print sales.) That puts the book at No. 3 on […]
Rowling Print Sales Are Similar In the US and UK
In its first week on sale, JK Rowling’s highly-anticipated THE CASUAL VACANCY sold approximately 157,000 printed copies in the US in the sales outlets tracked by Nielsen Bookscan. In the UK, where Nielsen Bookscan tracks nearly the entire print sales landscape, they counted sales of roughly 125,000 copies in the first week on sale. The publisher has not reported on ebook sales in either territory.
Publisher Puts Rowling Opening Sales At 375k
In a brief statement Wednesday, Little, Brown publisher Michael Pietsch said, “The Casual Vacancy has exceeded our expectations in its first six days in stores, selling 375,000 copies in all formats. We believe it is on track to become the year’s bestselling novel in hardcover.” Nielsen Bookscan tracked sales of approximately 157,000 print copies in outlets they track for the first four days on sale, implying roughly equal sales between print and ebook editions.
Sales After Oprah Endorsement Are Good, But Are They Wild?
The launch of Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 on May 30 with the selection of Cheryl Strayed’s WILD–and national media attention for Oprah’s return to book recommendations–has boosted the book’s profile and sales for certain. But will the cable + online Oprah profile come anywhere close to the impact of her syndicated television book endorsements? For the sales week ending June 10, Nielsen Bookscan reports print book sales of approximately 11,300 copies, up roughly 7,700 units from the prior week (with weekly sales having ranged from 3,100 to 4,400 copies over the previous four weeks). That is the book’s best week […]
Paolini Sales Nearly 500k; Isaacson Sells A Lot
Random House Children’s reports another very strong opening day for Christopher Paolini, with INHERITANCE selling 489,500 units yesterday (including print, ebook and audio editions), it’s first day on sale. The publisher says “hardcovers dominated the opening-day sell-through, with an 83/17 percent print to digital split.” Paolini’s BRISINGR sold approximately 550,000 units on opening day in the US in September 2008, back when Borders was still operating. In other sales news, Simon & Schuster continues to demur regarding any reporting of sales over the past two weeks for Walter Isaacson’s STEVE JOBS biography. But we’ve spoken to few executives familiar with […]