In this week’s Entertainment Weekly (10.30.09) there’s an article in the ReviewsBooks section, which notes that books by some heavy hitters, even some that started strong, have sputtered a bit in the sales department. Most notably, Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol, which started out with 1.2 million copies sold in the first week of release, has dropped in subsequent weeks to 400,000 copies, and then 214,000 the next, according to Nielsen BookScan. Perennial bookseller faves such as Mitch Albom with his new book “Have a Little Faith”, and solid bets like Audrey Niffenegger’s “Her Fearful Symmetry” and Ted Kennedy’s memoir “True Compass” have had similarly low numbers. OK, much lower.
What does this MEAN, the major publishers are asking. Just WHAT!? Heads interviewed for the piece suggested that somehow still the holiday season will see book sales increase as Sure Things like Stephen King, John Grisham and Michael Chrichon have books coming out soon. Whistling in the dark, the slump I noted above doesn’t mean anything. Sure. But the word “recession” comes to mind. We’ll see if people loosen the purse strings toward November and December, eh?
As for me and my fellow wannabe authors, I just thought it was worth noting. If the Big Guys are having trouble selling their books, we may have to work a bit harder on a personal basis with our audiences to be sure we succeed where the majors are failing.
