Scary. . .

According to USA Today, Stephenie Meyer's novels account for 16% of all books sold in the USA in 2009!

What does that break down to? About 1 in every 7 books sold in last quarter was a book written by Meyer. Sales of her novels accounted for about 16 of all book sales tracked by the list in the first quarter of 2009.

I doubt Meyer is on a Kraft Dinner diet. . .

17 commentaires:

Ragnar said...

Hmm, a little something to think about.

sbp said...

I feel so...so left out. ;(

But at least people are reading.

thornofcamorr said...

I suddenly feel ill

Alexander Field said...

What does this say for the rest of publishing, the other 150,000+ books published every year? Brutal.

The Mad Hatter said...

The same was probably true of the Harry Potter books a couple years ago. The masses always want what everyone is reading so it just snowballs.

http://booktionary.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

I have to agree...mac and cheese probably isn't her thing...at least not anymore....

Unknown said...

Do you happen to have the numbers for Charlaine Harris?

I would think they're about equivalent...

Anonymous said...

That's wild. I personally don't get it though.

Adam Whitehead said...

Erm, I think you mean 16% of all fiction sold in the USA. 16% of every single book would be ludicrous.

I remember thinking Meyer was going to be a big deal when her latest book sold 1 million copies on day of release or something preposterous. That's JK Rowling numbers and virtually no-one else comes close to that.

"I would think they're about equivalent..."

I don't think they're even remotely in the same ballpark. Harris is strong selling, but Meyer is, unfortunately, the new Rowling by all acounts. Interesting to see if she keeps her pledge to end the TWILIGHT series with the next book in the face of those numbers or carry on and milk it a bit more.

Dream Girlzzz said...

Adam: The four Twilight titles have been holding on the top 4 spots on the USA Today list for weeks and weeks, and The Host has been in the top 10 of the NYT bestseller list since last March or April. The book sold 1.3 million copies in the first 24 hours, and a few million more since.

According to the USA Today bit which was taken up by basically every news network in North America, Meyer books account for 16% of ALL book sales in the US since the beginning of the year. It is crazy, but that's the way it goes. I think it's even crazier than with Rowling, because right now Stephenie Meyer has five books selling like hot cakes simultaneously.

Adam Whitehead said...

Since the beginning of the year and not the last twelve months? That makes a bit more sense, but is still an insanely large amount of books. Rowling has done more in her time, but I can't think of any other author who comes close to those two. Paolini was less and there was a much steeper drop-off. I think Pratchett's up to 3-4% of all books sold in the UK in a given year and that's regarded as jaw-dropping astonishing by the industry here, so I suppose Meyer being at around 9-10% for the whole year is plausible.

It just seems insane, taking into account every textbook, every school course book, every celebrity biography and more published in the USA in one year, that one author (well, two once Rowling starts writing again) could become so dominant.

Patrick said...

Wert: It might not be the case in the UK, but over here every single bookstore has mass displays of Meyer books. And I'm talking huge pyramids of Meyer books comprised of something like 200-300 copies.

Every girl I know has read or is reading the Twilight novels. Keep in mind that they're all buying the 4-volume set, and that accounts for millions of books.

16% of all book sales is crazy, but it's true...

Blodeuedd said...

...scary!!!

Anonymous said...

She is like selling like hot cakes everywhere. It was so strange while I was in Belgium last week to see her books in different languages at bookstores and people buying them.

Its amazing how its crossed over so quickly all over the place. Well done to her, I think she has really helped bookstores and booksellers over the past 6 months and I am sure little brown is pushing her to write another book promoto in the back ground.

Thomas

Anonymous said...

As a teacher, I see these books all over the place in the schools. It seems like every second student (and not just the girls) is reading one of them at every possible opportunity. Personally I find vampires a bore, but it is nice to see young folks reading. Let's just hope they'll pick up other books once they're finished with these ones!

kindredvampyre said...

wow that is amazing info indeed. thanks for it. love everything twilight.

Anonymous said...

Some insane figures. Me feelings on this are a bit mixed. Sure, it is good for publishing industry and bookshops.

More importantly though, I don`t mind seeing Meyer (and Dan Brown and others) everywhere, because every single kid/non-reader who reads a book because of her is for sure a step towards better. Reading is a dying habit these days.

On the other hand, her books are some of the worst shit on earth, which make me want to kill myself. So my condolences to you North Americans.