Since word first broke right after New Year’s day that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg started a book club, Perseus Books Group has sold about 10,000 copies of the e-book edition of Moisés Naím's The End of Power, and more than 3,000 trade paperback copies.
Perseus CEO David Steinberger said that by using the digital publishing capabilities of its Constellation platform, the company has now shipped almost 30,000 print copies of the The End of Power, published by Perseus imprint Basic Books in 2013. The first shipments went out early last week, mainly to online retailers, and more shipments have since gone out to a range of retailers. In addition to orders from booksellers, Steinberger said orders have come from Costco and Hudson’s and from accounts in the Far East, Latin America, and New Zealand.
Print sales in stores that report to Nielsen BookScan sold 3,089 trade paperback copies in the week ended January 11, up from 29 copies in the previous week. When Zuckerberg first made the pick, there were only a few copies available for sale.
While an offset printing is still to come, Steinberger noted that without the ability to use digital printing, Perseus would be sitting with lots of unfilled orders. With Zuckerberg due to make the second selection for the club early next week, Perseus has only a short window before attention moves to a new title.
