Tartt's 'Goldfinch' Doubles Sales Following Pulitzer Win

As expected, sales for the Pulitzer Prize fiction winner, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, spiked in the week following the announcement of the prize. According to Nielsen BookScan, the book sold 15,079 copies last week, compared to 7,095 the week before the Pulitzer win, good for a 113% increase. The Goldfinch has sold over 407,000 copies to date on BookScan. Publisher Little, Brown reported that total Goldfinch sales--print and digital combined--are nearing 1.5 million and that it has gone back to press for another 150,000 copies.

The Goldfinch, because of its popularity before winning the prize, saw a much smaller percent increase than previous fiction winners--but is still selling copies on a much larger scale than recent winners. 2013's fiction winner, The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson, saw a 500% increase after it won the Pulitzer, but went from 413 copies to 2,477 at outlets that report to BookScan.

Big picture, in one more week (when it surpasses Tinkers and A Visit from the Goon Squad), The Goldfinch, based on BookScan data, will be the bestselling Pulitzer fiction winner since 2009's winner, Olive Kitteridge. That book has sold over 994,000 copies to date. 2010's winner, Tinkers by Paul Harding, has sold 413,000 copies to date; 2011's winner, A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, has sold 408,000 copies; The Orphan Master's Son has sold 180,000 copies. No fiction prize was given in 2012.

Historically, the fiction Pulitzer winner sees the biggest sales benefit out of the five literature categories awarded. The 2014 general nonfiction winner, Tom's River by Dan Fagin, went from 10 copies to 162 copies sold (6,266 copies sold to date) on BookScan. History winner The Internal Enemy by Alan Taylor went from 27 copies to 433 copies (3,375 copies sold to date). 3 Sections by Vijay Seshadri, the 2014 poetry winner, went from 11 copies to 81 copies (353 copies sold to date). Megan Marshall's Margaret Fuller, the biography winner, out in paperback, went from 62 copies to 387 copies (5,038 copies sold to date).