BESTSELLERS SEPTEMBER 29–OCTOBER 5, 2014
Other Notable Debuts
Two web-to-print releases hit the lists this week.
• At #2 on our Hardcover Nonfiction list, The
Skinnytaste Cookbook by blogger Gina Homolka
netted some fat numbers, with 42K units sold.
Marketing plans include a partnership with gift
basket purveyor Harry & David.
• Matthew Inman’s The Terrible and
Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long
Distances, at #6 on our Trade Paperback list with more than 10K sold,
grew out of a character on his comics blog, The
Oatmeal. (For more on this and other sports titles,
see “Placing Bets,” p. 24.)
Tales from a Not-So-Small Debut Week
In 2009, Rachel Renée
Russell introduced
middle-grade readers to
fictional diarist Nikki
Maxwell, who has
proven to be rather prolific. Eight (and a half)
installments later, the
comic-novel hybrid series is still going
strong, with the newest title debuting at
the top of our Children’s Fiction list.
Here’s how it stacks up against previous
entries.
How to Get on the Bestseller List
Debuting at #13 on our Hardcover Nonfiction
list with more than 6K copies sold, Steven Johnson’s How We Got to Now traces the history of six
everyday objects, among them a refrigerator, a
clock, and a glass of water, to show how innovation and creativity emerge from “collaborative
networks” and the intersection of different domains. Fittingly, in the week leading up to publication, Johnson
took to multiple domains to promote his book. He landed a segment on the Daily Show, followed by an AMA (“ask me anything”) q&a session on Reddit; he’s also hosting a related six-part
documentary on PBS. How We Got to Now, which PW’s starred
review called “fascinating,” grew out of research Johnson did for
Where Good Ideas Come From (2010)—not a surprise to the author’s fans. In a September 2010 interview with PW, Johnson
said that all his books are in conversation with one another: “This
is exactly the network property of ideas.” —Annie Coreno
TOP 10
1 Killing Patton O’Reilly/Dugard Holt 113,891
2 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn Broadway 63,795
3 Gone Girl (movie tie-in) Gillian Flynn Broadway 59,910
4 Minecraft: Construction Handbook Scholastic Inc. Scholastic 58,443
5 Burn Patterson/Ledwidge Little, Brown 42,839
6 The Skinnytaste Cookbook Gina Homolka Clarkson Potter 42,350
7 Gone Girl (mass market movie tie-in) Gillian Flynn Broadway 41,617
8 Not That Kind of Girl Lena Dunham Random House 37,432
9 Dork Diaries 8 Rachel Renée Russell S&S/Aladdin 34,099
10 Edge of Eternity Ken Follett Dutton 25,707
THIS WEEK
RANK TITLE AUTHOR IMPRINT UNITS
INFORMATION SUPPLIED BY NIELSEN BOOKSCAN. COPYRIGHT © 2014 THE NIELSEN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
#1 Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life June 2009 1,602
#2 Tales from a Not-So-Popular Party Girl June 2010 7,695
#3 Tales from a Not-So-Talented Pop Star June 2011 22,011
#3.5 How to Dork Your Diary Oct. 2011 7,841
#4 Tales from a Not-So-Graceful Ice Princess June 2012 25,506
#5 Tales from a Not-So-Smart Miss Know-It-All Oct. 2012 22,328
#6 Tales from a Not-So-Happy Heartbreaker June 2013 47,213
#7 Tales from a Not-So-Glam TV Star June 2014 26,096
#8 Tales from a Not-So-Happily Ever After Sept. 2014 34,099
TITLE PUB DATE SALES
‘Girl’ Gone Wild
With a reported $3.5 million advance for her first essay collec-
tion, Not That Kind of Girl, there was little doubt Lena Dun-
ham’s book would land on the bestseller list. This week, it de-
buts on our Hardcover Nonfiction list at #3.
Publicity efforts cranked up well before publica-
tion, with a September 14 interview in the New
York Times Magazine, the cover of which showed
Dunham rendered as a marble bust by artist
Victoria Diehl. Good Morning America previewed
the issue, and the Times later posted a behind-
the-scenes video of the process. Dunham is making the TV and
radio rounds—Good Morning America, the View, the Daily Show,
NPR’s Fresh Air, and Howard Stern—and appearing at sold-
out live events across the country. The tour continues this week
with dates in Austin, Pasadena, San Francisco, Seattle, Port-
land—and, naturally, Brooklyn. —Mark Rotella
SOURCE: NIELSEN BOOKSCAN
FIRST WEEK