Bestsellers
The “Book Business” from a True Veteran’s Perspective
Lydia Hirt - Nov 04, 2009A publishing career spanning half a century is my dream, and Jason Epstein is the icon and achiever of this goal. Epstein’s career is illustrious within the publishing world, boasting an impressive breadth and impact. Unlike many of the famous writers with whom he’s worked, including Auden and Nabakov, More
Runaway Bestseller ”The Last Lecture” is Sold Out Everywhere, But Not For Amazon Kindle Owners
Press Release - Apr 19, 2008SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–April 19, 2008–The extraordinary national best seller “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow has become so popular that it is sold out everywhere, but not for owners of Amazon Kindle (NASDAQ:AMZN), a revolutionary portable reader. Kindle owners can get “The Last Lecture” downloaded wirelessly onto their More
Poker
Andrew Grabois - Nov 26, 2007While in a downtown Manhattan Barnes & Noble bookstore the other day, I noticed that an entire book case was devoted to poker. Pretty good for a game that was — until recently — thought of as the pastime of middle-aged men desperate for a couple of hours away from More
Sudoku
Andrew Grabois - Nov 12, 2007Ever hear of Sudoku? If you don’t like puzzles, you probably haven’t. Not only is Sudoku the biggest thing to hit the puzzle world in years–perhaps ever–it is also a bona fide book publishing phenomenon. Iin 2005, there were seven crossword puzzle books on Nielsen BookScan’s list of the 50 More
bill stephens:
Andrew, Your articles in beneaththecover.com popped up on Google when I was... Read Entire Comment
Karen:
I am a big puzzle fan! More into words than numbers, I sat down one day to complete a... Read Entire Comment
Nobody Knows Anything
Posted 2 years agoAn interesting article in the Boston Globe (by way of Publishers Lunch) on the unlikely success of This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, by Drew Gilpin ... [Link]
Phone Novels
Posted 2 years agoKeitai shosetsu, or mobile novels, are becoming increasingly popular in Japan, reports the Times of London. Mobile novels are written for reading on cell phones. They have short sentences, lots ... [Link]
Lingua Franca
Posted 2 years agoThe Guardian of London (via Book Trade Digest) reports that Bloomsbury, the UK publisher of Harry Potter, said that half of all copies of the English-language version of HP7 are ... [Link]
The Maestro Speaks
Posted 2 years agoA lot of ink has been spilled on Alan Greenspan’s memoir, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World (Penguin). The official publication date was Monday, September 17, but ... [Link]
Ebbut’s Dont’s for Husbands and Wives
Posted 2 years agoEvery week a list of bestsellers for the Waterstone’s chain of bookstores in the UK is delivered to my inbox. I usually give it a quick skim, to see what’s ... [Link]
Sea Around Us
Posted 3 years agoWhat is the bestselling book published by a university press? (It’s rare that a university press publication will make one of the major bestseller lists.) A 2005 Princeton University Press ... [Link]
Dangerous Book To Buy
Posted 3 years agoIn the Sunday New York Times Week In Review, Charles McGrath, the former editor of the NY Times Book Review, looks at the popularity of the Iggulden brothers’ Dangerous Book ... [Link]
Great Big Glorious Book for Girls
Posted 3 years agoIt was a response to the hugely successful Dangerous Book for Boys, growing from an article-length spoof version for girls to a 304-page book that is currently number 66 on ... [Link]
Rediscovering the Inner Chap
Posted 3 years agoFrom the UK, the Telegraph reports on how the Second World War has become “the hottest thing in publishing†and set to be “one of the hottest phenomena of the ... [Link]
Vampires and the Women Who Love Them
Posted 3 years agoBlood-suckers are all the rage.In my articles on the Romance and Science Fiction & Fantasy categories, I noted the popularity of vampires. We see them not only in published fiction ... [Link]
Bestseller Ideas
In this week’s interview, Dean Rotbart and Michael Drew discuss the likelihood of a book idea becoming a publishing success. In their discussion, they reveal how to identify whether More
The Lessons of Harry Potter: A Beneath the Cover Podcast
Michael R. Drew discusses what all authors - even those writing non-fiction - can learn from the phenomenal success of the Harry Potter Series. More
