At #1 on the USA Today best seller list is Burned, the seventh in The House of Night series by mother/daughter writing team P.C. and Kirstin Cast.

That’s not surprising; the previous book in the series, Tempted, also topped the list. This time, however, the Casts beat out James Patterson, whose new book 9th Judgment also debuts on the list, but at #2.

And, as USA Today‘s Book Buzz column notes, Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell arrives on the list in her highest spot to date, #16, for her YA title, The Carrie Diaries. People magazine gave it 3.5 of a possible 4 stars, saying, “…a final scene…skillfully hooks you into wanting the next installment immediately, though book 2 won’t be available until summer 2011.” Entertainment Weekly was also enthusiastic, giving it an A-.

Burned (House of Night Novels) P. C. Cast, Kristin Cast Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin – (2010-04-27) ISBN / EAN: 0312606168 / 9780312606169

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The Carrie Diaries Candace Bushnell Retail Price: $18.99 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: HarperTeen/Balzer + Bray – (2010-05-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061728918 / 9780061728914

HarperChildrensAudio; 5/1/10; UNAB; 978-0061983948; $25.99

Among the titles that have been on the NYT kids best seller lists for weeks and weeks (Gallop! is STILL on after 112 weeks) are some new titles that I’m happy to see  break on to the lists.

The EARTH Book Todd Parr Retail Price: $9.99 Hardcover: 40 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers – (2010-03-17) ISBN / EAN: 031604265X / 9780316042659

Todd Parr’s new book debuts on the Picture Books list this week. He’s a genius when speaking to the young child. His bright colors and direct language can be jarring to grown-ups but trust me, kids just want to grab on and not let go. Best Earth Day advice – put your underwear in the freezer to cool off instead of air conditioning.

The Time Pirate: A Nick McIver Time Adventure Ted Bell Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin – (2010-04-13) ISBN / EAN: 0312578105 / 9780312578107

Macmillan Audio; UNABR; 9781427208828; $29.99

On the Chapter Books list for the second week, now at #6, is the second in the Nick McIver Time Adventure series. I am a sucker  for time/travel tales. This one is a big fat novel for the kids who have graduated from Jack and Annie and the kids waiting for this week’s release of the Red Pyramid.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson John Green, David Levithan Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Dutton Juvenile – (2010-04-06) ISBN / EAN: 0525421580 / 9780525421580

Brilliance Audio; UNABR

7 CD’s; 9781441842602; $71.97
MP3-CD; 97814418426-6 $39.97

OverDrive WMA Audiobook

On the Chapter Books list at #8 after three weeks, this is my number one pick for YA this spring. Great deep read that reflects the very real lives of teens. Got kids who are obsessed by Glee? This is for them.

VIZ’s manga series One Piece dominated the NYT manga best seller list last week, taking up five of the total ten positions. But, come this week, none of the One Piece titles showed up on the list. What does this mean?

Last week’s spike is due to VIZ’s aggressive One Piece publishing schedule.  Since January of this year, One Piece has been published in five volume sets instead of the usual one volume per month. Volumes 21 through 53 will be published by June allowing VIZ to get closer to the Japanese release schedule.

VIZ  is no doubt trying to meet fan demand and to battle the continuing appeal of instantaneous access to series via illegal scanlation sites, where fans translate Japanese manga titles and make them available on the internet. In 2007, VIZ worked to catch up with the Japanese releases of their best-selling series Naruto. Over four months, three volumes were released a month, allowing VIZ to finish out the current storyline of Naruto and be ready to launch the new story arc, referred to as Naruto Shippuden, marking a two-year break in the tale’s narrative. Then, early in 2009, VIZ once again began a blitz campaign, releasing four new volumes a month in February through April, to catch up with both the Japanese release schedule and to stay in line with the animated Naruto TV series arriving in the US.

For the best seller list, this accelerated publishing rate doesn’t necessarily mean much.  Naruto dominates the manga list whenever a new volume is published, and similar spikes happened during the bulk releases in 2009.  One Piece, on the other hand, has not been an automatic best seller for VIZ.  This series, which follows the slapstick-filled and charmingly oddball adventures of a pirate, Luffy, who has been cursed (or blessed) with a rubberized body, has never been as strong a presence as other popular shonen (or boys comics) titles like Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Bleach.  Last week’s arrival in force on the NYT list indicates the fan base is growing and we should pay attention to it in selection.

In a time of tightening budgets, sudden increases in releases can wreak havoc on a library’s orders especially if you have a standing order plan. In my library, both Naruto and One Piece are on standing order, and while I wasn’t forced to cancel the plan when the publishing schedule changed, I was lucky that my budget could accommodate the shift. However, this year’s One Piece push was a dramatic increase.  Instead of five new volumes, I suddenly had to pay for thirty. VIZ sent out press releases informing consumers and library publications about the increase, but my own warnings came from comics sources and individual librarians, not from vendors or standard library publications. So far, VIZ has been choosing wisely, only accelerating series that are in high demand. Libraries need to keep up to satisfy their readers, so it’s important to keep tabs on VIZ’s press releases and publishing schedules.

The other major issue that affects libraries is publisher’s fighting the widespread ease and appeal of scanlation sites.  Publishers acknowledge that they will never catch up in print with the scanlations that are released within a matter of days after the source material hits the magazine racks in Japan.

A hullaballoo over the weekend, smartly broken down by Robot 6‘s Brigid Alverson, noted a new iPhone app available for download that cheerfully makes the most popular illegal scanlation sites available.  Just yesterday I chatted with a favorite adult patron who revealed that, now that he’s discovered scan sites, he’s been checking out fewer titles from the library. Scans feed his desire for instant reading. Some titles are available to library users digitally via Overdrive, such as Tokyopop’s, but most of them are older and US-originated titles and thus not likely to keep fans away from the scan sites. Librarians need to work with publishers and digital media vendors to get what our users are looking for, or we face losing them.

Kitty Kelley’s bio of Oprah Winfrey has landed at #5 on the new USA Today best seller list, making it the #1 nonfiction title (we hear it is #1 on the upcoming NYT Nonfiction list).

Those sales reflect the first week of media attention. On Amazon’s sales rankings, the book is at #20, making it the 4th best selling nonfiction title. In libraries we checked, holds are averaging 3:1 and slowing.

Oprah: A Biography Kitty Kelley Retail Price: $30.00 Hardcover: 544 pages Publisher: Crown – (2010-04-13) ISBN / EAN: 0307394867 / 9780307394866

Large Print from Random House; $30; ISBN 9780739377857
Audio from Random House Audio; CD: $50; ISBN 9780307749246

Celebrating her first appearance at #1 on the hardcover NYT best seller list this week is Patricia Briggs, for Silver Borne, the fifth book in her Mercy Thompson series, about a shapeshifter and auto mechanic in Washington State.

Silver Borne (Mercy Thompson, Book 5) Patricia Briggs Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Ace Hardcover – (2010-03-30) ISBN / EAN: 044101819X / 9780441018192

Penguin Audio; UNABR; ISBN 9781101192566; $39.95
Audio downloadable from OverDrive

At #2 after 53 weeks on the list (and the paperback still not in sight) is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. It was last at #1 two weeks ago.

Ian McEwan’s Solar has been getting dozens of reviews (Entertainment Weekly said this black comedy is “… the funniest book Ian McEwan has ever written, though granted that’s faint praise given the things his characters have done to corpses over the years”). It hits the list at #6.

Solar Ian McEwan Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Nan A. Talese – (2010-03-30) ISBN / EAN: 0385533411 / 9780385533416

Large Print; 978-0-7393-7778-9; $27
Adobe EPUB eBook downloadable from OverDrive

Slipping to #15 after four weeks is Viking’s big bet of the season, Angelology.

Jonathan Kellerman’s new Alex Delaware title, Deception, arrives at #4.

Deception: An Alex Delaware Novel Jonathan Kellerman Retail Price: $28.00 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Ballantine Books – (2010-03-30) ISBN / EAN: 0345505670 / 9780345505675

RH Audio; UNABR; 9780739368954; $45
Audio and Adobe EPUB eBook available from OverDrive.

Continuing at #1 on the NYT Manga best seller list this week is Warriors: Clan in Need, the new title in the wildly popular series (which is also popular in its prose format). Meanwhile, the manga-influenced version of another wildly popular title, Twilight is #1 on the Hardcover list.

So, why is Warriors on the Manga list, while the manga-influenced Twilight is not? These placements highlight a debate among comics and manga readers as to how to best define manga for the US readers. Manga is simply the Japanese word for comics but it has evolved to define a particular style. What constitutes that style, however, is highly debatable. Some say it should only include titles originally published in Japan by Japanese creators.  Others expand the definition to include manga-influenced titles, like both Warriors and Twilight. This then raises debate about how many manga elements a title needs to include (the Graphic Novel Reporter gives a good rundown of manga style). Does only art style come into it, or should the other aspects of manga including symbols, pacing, and storytelling techniques be necessary?

But, in the end, readers don’t care so much about these distinctions; they just want to know if particular titles appeal to fellow manga fans. Dramacon by Svetlana Chmakova is a US-produced title that is beloved by manga fans because it adopts not only the visual style but also the intricacies of symbols, pacing, and layout that make manga a recognizable art form.  The popular series Megatokyo and stand-alone works like June Kim’s 12 Days occupy a more complex middle spot between manga and western comics sensibility.

On the other hand, the Warriors graphic novels are not particularly appealing to manga fans (they’re appealing to Warriors fans, but that’s a whole other kettle of fish).

I am a librarian who believes, for the purposes of creating lists and organizing collections, it’s easiest to define manga strictly as comics produced in Japan for a Japanese audience.  Once you start including titles from outside Japan as manga, it becomes increasingly difficult to determine a line between manga and non-manga. As art styles and influence grow more intermingled, it is problematic to leave the term up to individual tastes or publisher’s marketing schemes.  The most important thing, however, is consistency, something which is not happening on the New York Times lists.

The Warriors series has appeared on the manga list multiple times, as have other US created manga-style series including Vampire Kisses: Blood Relatives from Ellen Schreiber and Maximum Ride by James Patterson. On the other hand, Scott Pilgrim, a series with marked manga influences, appears on the softcover lists, as does Adam Warren’s Empowered and X-Men: Misfits, both of which are clearly manga-style in terms of art.

How does the NYT decide what is manga and what is not? It seems they simply take the publishers word for it. If a publisher calls a title “manga” it goes on that list; when a title has no designation, it goes on either the hardcover or paperback lists.

As a result, sometimes true manga titles don’t appear on the manga list. Last year, A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi, a stunning memoir by one of the founders of gekiga, or dramatic manga aimed at adult men, showed up on the softcover list, with no indication that the list makers realized that it was manga. Even more troubling, Death Note: L Change the World appeared for many weeks on the manga list even though it is a prose novel and thus not even a graphic novel. Death Note is indeed a best-selling manga series, but L Change is a novel spin-off, and its continued placement on a graphic novel best seller list made it appear that the New York Times list makers weren’t quite paying attention.

In selecting, we need to be aware that all the titles on the manga list may not appeal to manga fans. Buying Warriors or Vampire Kisses will not be a way to satisfy your readers’ demand for more manga.

Atlantic Monthly pulled out all the stops for their big Vietnam novel, Matterhorn, and it has paid off; the book lands at #7 on the New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list and is featured on the cover of the NYT Book Review. Reviewer Sebastian Junger  calls it “a raw, brilliant account of war that may well serve as a final exorcism for one of the most painful passages in American history.”

As a result, Matterhorn moved to #15 on Amazon, its highest spot to date. At B&N.com, which features it on their home page, it moved to #9.

Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War Karl Marlantes Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 592 pages Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press – (2010-03-23) ISBN / EAN: 080211928X / 9780802119285

Blackstone Audio; UNABR

17 CDs; 1-4417-4228-5; $123.00
2 MP3CDs; 1-4417-4231-5;$44.95
Playaway;1-4417-4234-6; $79.99
15 Tapes; 1-4417-4227-8; $105.95

Audio available from OverDrive

Arriving on the 3/28 NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list are two contrasting debuts; one’s been a slow-building sleeper success and the other come out of the box with high expectations.

As we predicted two weeks ago, Viking’s big gamble of the season has become a best seller, hitting the list at #7. Critics have either loved it or hated it.

Angelology Danielle Trussoni Retail Price: $27.95 Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: Viking Adult – (2010-03-09) ISBN / EAN: 0670021474 / 9780670021475

Penguin Audiobooks: 03/09/2010; $39.95; ISBN 9780143145264

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A British village novel with a modern twist has charmed critics and readers; it arrives at #14 (tied with #13).

The libraries we checked show a different pattern; Major Pettigrew is ahead of Angelology in the number of holds, on about the same number of copies.

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand Helen Simonson Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Random House – (2010-03-02) ISBN / EAN: 1400068932 / 9781400068937

Random House Audio; UNABR; 9780307712844; $40
Audio downloadable from OverDrive

If you think Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is just another novelty, tossed off to take advantage of the mashup craze, listen to the author Seth Grahame-Smith on NPR‘s Weekend Edition. He tells Liane Hansen how much work it was to create and talks about the book’s serious central theme that ties slaveholders and vampires together,

I see them as sort of one and the same. Both creatures, basically slaveholders and vampires, steal lives — take the blood of others — to enrich themselves.

Grahame-Smith bases the book in reality; Lincoln was a “great admirer of all things gothic… as we all know Lincoln could be particularly morbid in his darker days… He’s very tall with sunken eyes, he was… the original Goth.”

The book continues at #5 (tied with #4) on the 3/28 NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list after two weeks.

Will Grahame-Smith continue writing mashups? No, he says his writing “will always contain elements of the supernatural, a bit of history, and maybe some pop culture,” but he “wants to do more original storytelling.”

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Seth Grahame-Smith Retail Price: $21.99 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Grand Central Publishing – (2010-03-02) ISBN / EAN: 0446563080 / 9780446563086

Hachette Audio; UNABR; 9781607881735; $26.98
BBC Audio: UNABR; 9781607883548; $69.99
ebook and audio available from OverDrive

The two new titles this week on the New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller list both have strong ties to other media: Star Wars: Legacy Tatooine is a spin-off of the Star Wars films, speculating on the future of Luke’s bloodline. The Invincible Iron Man collects together the new stand-alone comic book series and is rocketing up in popularity due to the recent film franchise (Iron Man 2 arrives in theaters on 5/07).

Graphic novels connected to other media can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, they enhance a known universe and engage fans with a new format. On the other hand, they can be subpar in production, from art to writing, and depend too heavily on their source material to lure in new fans. A few creators have balanced the mix of homage and new storylines well.

Here are some of the best recent reboots.

Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto started as a retelling of the famous Astro Boy novella, “The Greatest Robot on Earth“, published in 1964 by the legendary Osamu Tezuka. Within the first few pages, however, readers are swept away into a world far more detailed and uncertain. Urasawa follows the basic plot of Tezuka’s world-renowned series, but he redirects focus away from Atom (aka Astro Boy) and concentrates on the Europol robot investigator Gesicht. Gesicht, called in to investigate the murders of both robots and humans, uncovers a trail of clues leading back to the tragedies of a recent war and long-simmering hatred. Urasawa investigates complex questions of prejudice, international conflict, politics, and artificial identity through eight volumes, and with the final volume due out on April 6th, it’s an excellent time purchase the complete run.

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol. 8 Naoki Urasawa Retail Price: $12.99 Paperback: 200 pages Publisher: VIZ Media LLC – (2010-04-06) ISBN / EAN: 142153343X / 9781421533438

Jim Butcher’s novel series The Dresden Files is a long-time favorite of urban fantasy fans, and while a recent TV show based on the books only aired for one season, the prequel graphic novel Welcome to the Jungle and adaptation of first novel Storm Front entered the New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller lists in April of last year. Featuring rich art and Butcher’s familiar mix of noir and magic, these are fine examples of adaptations and spin-offs done well.

The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle Jim Butcher Retail Price: $19.95 Hardcover: 160 pages Publisher: Del Rey/Dabel Brothers – (2008-10-14) ISBN / EAN: 0345507460 / 9780345507464

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The Dresden Files: Storm Front (Dresden Files (del Rey)) Jim Butcher Retail Price: $22.95 Hardcover: 128 pages Publisher: Del Rey/Dabel Brothers – (2009-06-02) ISBN / EAN: 0345506391 / 9780345506399

On the younger side of storytelling, one could not ask for a more charming reinvention of a classic story than Shannon and Dean Hale’s Rapunzel’s Revenge and the latest adventure Calamity Jack. Rapunzel’s Revenge starts with the familiar elements of Rapunzel: girl in a tower, endless coils of hair, and a paranoid, overprotective witch in control. Within a few pages, however, Rapunzel has gotten herself out of the tower, slyly misdirected the prince coming to her rescue, and started off on her own adventure to rescue her land from the witch’s iron control. Calamity Jack takes off from the end of Rapunzel’s Revenge, this time zeroing in on the charming con-man Jack (of the Beanstalk). Jack and Rapunzel return to the city of Jack’s birth to find it overrun with giants, at war with a mysterious ant-race, and in desperate need of two clever, spunky heroes to set matters straight.

Rapunzel’s Revenge Shannon Hale, Dean Hale Retail Price: $14.99 Paperback: 144 pages Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books – (2008-08-05) ISBN / EAN: 1599902885 / 9781599902883

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Calamity Jack Shannon Hale, Dean Hale Retail Price: $19.99 Hardcover: 144 pages Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books – (2010-01-05) ISBN / EAN: 1599900769 / 9781599900766

Serenity: Those Left Behind and Serenity: Better Days helped mollify fans still disappointed by the abrupt cancelation of the quirky Joss Whedon science fiction western Firefly. As a television series, the show had no ending even with the spin-off film Serenity, but this accomplished graphic novel series contains all of the humor, character development, and heist-driven adventure that marked the series. Joss Whedon’s other beloved series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, got its own vivid stand-alone spin off in Fray: Future Slayer, a graphic novel showing the adventures of a slayer in the far future who is unaware of what vampires or slayers even are.

Serenity, Vol. 1: Those Left Behind Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, Will Conrad – Retail Price: $9.95 Paperback: 104 pages Publisher: Dark Horse – (2006-02-08) ISBN / EAN: 1593074492 / 9781593074494

Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days Joss Whedon Retail Price: $9.99 Paperback: 80 pages Publisher: Dark Horse Comics – (2008-09-26) ISBN / EAN: 1595821627 / 9781595821621

Fray Joss Whedon Retail Price: $19.95 Paperback: 216 pages Publisher: Dark Horse – (2003-12-09) ISBN / EAN: 1569717516 / 9781569717516

A book that takes a contrarian approach to business, Rework, arrives on the new USA Today best seller list at #49.

It has been rising on Amazon as well, reaching as high as #4 last week. The authors, miffed that Karl Rove’s book shot above theirs, retaliated with this video (via Gawker):

They might also have noted that while Rove’s book is reviewed in places like The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, theirs is reviewed by PC Pro and Inc.com.

Rove’s book is currently at #11 on Amazon. Rework is at #12.

Rework Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson Retail Price: $22.00 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Crown Business – (2010-03-09) ISBN / EAN: 0307463745 / 9780307463746

RH Audio; UNABR; 9780307704511; $24
ebook and audio available from OverDrive

Seth Grahame-Smith set off the monster mashup craze last year with his Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Published as a $12.95 paperback by independent press Quirk Book in Philadelphia, it continues to be a huge success.

One wondered when Grand Central picked up the rights to the author’s next book, ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER, whether fans would accept the turn away from the classics to a historical figure and if they would be willing to spring for the more expensive hardcover.

Evidently, neither is a problem. The book landed at #4 on the 3/21 NYT Fiction bestseller list.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Seth Grahame-Smith Retail Price: $21.99 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Grand Central Publishing – (2010-03-02) ISBN / EAN: 0446563080 / 9780446563086

Hachette Audio; UNABR; 9781607881735; $26.98
BBC Audio: UNABR; 9781607883548; $69.99
ebook and audio available from OverDrive

First-time novelist Lauren Oliver arrives on the 3/21 NYT Children’s Chapter Books best seller list at #8 with Before I Fall. The book is told by a girl who dies in a car accident, but gets to relive the last day of her life seven times.

The book was launched with a 100,000-copy first printing. PW featured the author’s unique “ARC tour;” she sent out 2 copies, asking readers to pass the book on and insert comments. One copy actually made it back to her, after traveling throughout Europe, loaded with comments and drawings.

It received stellar prepub reviews and is the #1 Indie Next Spring 2010 Children’s Pick.

The Guardian sees it as part of a trend of novels by dead or dying YA’s, which is led, of course, by The Lovely Bones and includes:

• Before I Die, Jenny Downham, (David Fickling Books/Random House, 2007)
• Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher (Razorbill/Penguin, 2007)
• Elsewhere, Bavrielle Zevin (Square Fish/FSG, 2005)
• If I Stay, Gayle Forman (Dutton, 2009)

The author has a four-book contract; her second novel, Delirium, is planned for publication in winter 2011.

Before I Fall Lauren Oliver Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 480 pages Publisher: HarperCollins – (2010-03-01) ISBN / EAN: 006172680X / 9780061726804

ebook and audio available from OverDrive.

Arriving at #28 on the 3/21 Extended NYT Fiction best seller list is Heresy by S.J. Parris, a pseudonym for Stephanie Merritt. It’s her first outing under this name, her first time writing an historical thriller, and her first time on the best seller list. The Washington Post recently pegged Heresy as part of a subgenre they call “the religious thriller”:

If proliferation is a sign of health, then the most vigorous member of the historical novel species must surely be the religious thriller. We know what to expect of these ecclesiastical romps: Sadistic clerics, heroic visionaries, ancient texts, torture chambers and a sprinkling of Latin are guaranteed whether the turmoil being depicted is the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Inquisition or some obscure schism.

Set in the 16th C. the book is about a real-life Italian monk who was excommunicated for believing that the earth revolves around the sun. Escaping to Oxford, he was recruited as a spy for Elizabeth I and become involved in trying to solve some grisly murders. Heresy was acquired as the first in a trilogy

Merritt/Parris recently wrote in the Guardian that she enjoyed writing this book more than any of her others,

The best crime and thriller novels, though they may work within certain parameters, can offer just as much scope for psychological depth, tenderness and a critical perspective on society as “serious” novels, and writers such as Robert Harris and Matthew Pearl prove that you don’t have to compromise on prose style to create a cracking plot.

Heresy S.J. Parris Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 448 pages Publisher: Doubleday – (2010-02-23) ISBN / EAN: 0385531281 / 9780385531283

Random House audio; ABR; 9780307714299; $30
ebook available from OverDrive

As we noted Monday, an Amazon computer glitch caused some pricey comics titles to drop precipitously in price and sales to skyrocket (the Amazon Top 100 were all comic titles at one point).

Publishers Weekly reported yesterday that some buyers received their purchases, while others received cancellation letters. Distributor Diamond Comics is in discussions with Amazon; “No doubt, they are also discussing who will take the economic hit if they honor some of these orders, a hit that could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars,” says PW.