After its record-breaking debut last week, Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman sold roughly 220,000 print copies in its second week on sale. The figure, which tracks sales for the period ending July 29, reflects data provided by outlets that report to Nielsen Bookscan, which accounts for approximately 80% of print sales. The title, which held onto its #1 spot on Nielsen's chart, sold more than 746,000 copies in its first week on sale.
While Watchman saw a 70% decrease in sales from its first week on the market, the novel still sold more than three times the number of copies than the #2 book on the chart, E.L. James's Grey, did. (Grey moved just over 65,000 copies in the week.) After the July 24 premiere of Paper Towns, John Green's 2008 novel came in third, selling roughly 48,000 copies. Lee's first book, To Kill a Mockingbird, sold 32,000 copies (down slightly from 36,000 the previous week).
Watchman's first week sale numbers were a tough, and precedent-setting, act to follow. The novel sold more print copies in its first week than any book since Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, released in September 2009. (Brown's book sold 1.1 million copies in its first week, according to Nielsen.) On July 20, publisher HarperCollins reported that Watchman sold more than 1.1 million copies since its July 14 release, in both print and digital, making it the fastest-selling book in the publisher's history.
