What The Indies Are Buying
We’re always on the lookout for insight on which forthcoming titles will become hits, so we’re excited to find a new tool; Edelweiss, the company that produces online catalogs for publishers, has released lists of titles most-ordered titles through their system. Since most of the orders come from independent booksellers, the lists offer a interesting look at the upcoming months.
We’ve posted the Fiction and Nonfiction lists, which represent the top 30 titles ordered during the previous two months (only the publishers that use the Edelweiss system are included, representing the majority of the larger publishers, with a few exceptions, most notably, Simon and Schuster). You’ll notice that few of the repeat blockbuster authors appear on the lists; most independent booksellers find they don’t do as well in their stores (which is clearly reflected on the Indie Best Seller lists).
A few highlights:
Fiction
At #1 is State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, coming from Harper in June. Libraries, of course, have already placed their orders.
Surprisingly few libraries are showing orders for #12 title, The Kid by Sapphire (Penguin Press, Jul 5). It’s the sequel to Push, which was the basis for the last year’s surprise box office hit, Precious.
At #16 is The Last Werewolf by Duncan, Glen (Knopf, Jul 12); a new entry in the paranormal category that few libraries have ordered yet.
On GalleyChat, librarians have been talking about the thriller Before I Go To Sleep by Watson, S. J. (Harper, Jun 1) which appears at #17.
Nonfiction
Tina Fey has already been getting kudos for her New Yorker essay, “Confessions of a Juggler,” which offers a preview of her forthcoming book Bossypants (Reagan Arthur/Hachette, Apr 5), at #1.
Few libraries seem to have ordered the #2 title, Boomerang by Lewis, Michael (Norton, Jun 13).
We’re not surprised to see the new book by Eric Larson, author of the beloved Devil in the White City (fingers crossed that the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio sees the light of day and does it justice) at #3 with his upcoming book about an American family in Berlin in 1933, In the Garden of Beasts (Crown/ Random House, May 10).
On our special edition of GalleyChat, the #7 title, Lost in Shangri-La by Zuckoff, Mitchell (Harper; May 1), emerged as a favorite with librarians as well.