These uncertain times have seen a renewed interest in serious nonfiction, as people try to make sense of an unstable world• The best ‘brainy’ books of the last 10 yearsThis is a story about a book that just kept selling, catching publishers, booksellers and even its author off guard. In seeking to understand the reasons for the book’s unusually protracted shelf life, we uncover important messages about our moment in history, about the still-vital place of reading in our culture, and about the changing face of publishing.The book is Sapiens, by the Israeli academic Yuval Noah Harari, published in the UK in September 2014. It’s a recondite work of evolutionary history charting the development of humankind through a scholarly examination of our ability to cooperate as a species. Sapiens sold well on publication, particularly when it came out in paperback in the summer of 2015. What’s remarkable about it, though, is that it’s still selling in vast numbers. In its first two and a half years of life, Sapiens sold just over 200,000 copies in the UK. Since 2017, when Harari published Homo Deus, his follow-up, Sapiens has sold a further half million copies, establishing itself firmly at the top of the bestseller lists (and convincingly outselling its sequel). Sapiens has become a publishing phenomenon and its wild success is symptomatic of a broader trend in our book-buying habits: a surge in the popularity of intelligent, challenging nonfiction, often books that are several years... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2018-07-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
Leslie Jamison’s collection of nonfiction essays about pain, "The Empathy Exams," is hitting a nerve in more ways than one: the April 1 Graywolf Press release is landing on bestseller lists and has gone into a sixth print run. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New titles dominated the top spots on February’s bestseller lists across foreign markets. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HBO's hit new show has catapulted a 100-year-old short-story collection onto the bestseller lists.A collection of strange art nouveau stories by American author Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow has gone virtually unread for most of the past century. The first half of the book is made up of... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House imprint Vintage Books announces global sales of erotic thriller which started life as Twilight fan fictionOne-hundred-million copies of EL James's erotic trilogy, Fifty Shades of Grey, have now been sold around the world, her US publisher announced today.More than 27m of the books,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A handful of new titles topped the bestseller lists in the international markets at the start of 2014. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An analysis of the year's bestselling books reveals the clout big publishers have, how fast bestsellers rotate out, and much more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Indies hope to highlight 'books that are a bit quirky and a little bit different' and might be overlooked by chain retailersThe nation's independent bookshops have pooled their collective expertise to identify the best of this year's crop of Christmas books, in a bid to pick out the hidden... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New titles commandeered the top slots across the bestseller lists in international markets in September. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Big Brother is watching. And people are reading.Big Brother is watching. And people are reading. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Allegations of stockpiling and best-seller list manipulation have rocked the publishing world in South Korea as publishers combat decreasing book sales. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Robyn Carr might not be a household name, but she’s certainly a force to be reckoned with on the bestseller lists. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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While interest in romance titles is showing no signs of slowing down—they continue to find their way into top spots on bestseller lists and command major advances from big-six editors—it’s the newish category new adult that is particularly hot right now. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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First good reviews went on sale. Now a marketing firm is charging thousands to buy copies of books in order to artificially place them on bestseller lists. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Now that all of that Microsoft-related news is out in the open, Barnes & Noble's CEO William Lynch is ready to talk about the future. Fortune sat down with him to discuss the deal and what's next for the Nook. The answer to the latter is, at least in part, near-field communication. The exec... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Adam Mansbach's 'Go the F— to Sleep' was fun for adults. 'Seriously, Just Go to Sleep' lets the kids in on the joke. And now he has projects to keep him awake.A year ago, Adam Mansbach was an award-winning novelist and aspiring screenwriter wrapping up a two-year teaching job at Rutgers... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The newest 'Star Wars' novel, 'Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse,' holds the No. 8 slot on the New York Times bestseller list. Success has become the norm for the books. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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