When the first trailer for the much-anticipated adaptation of E.L. James’s Fifty Shades of Grey dropped on July 24, it took the Internet by storm, becoming the most-watched YouTube preview of the year thus far. The novel was, not surprisingly, the most-buzzed-about title on social media in July, according to CoverCake, which tracks how books are faring on major social media platforms.
“Comments about this book exploded this month, as fans got their first glimpse of the movie trailer,” said Jeff Costello, v-p of CoverCake, who expects comments to ramp up once again when the movie premieres next February.
Chris Kyle’s American Sniper landed at #2 on CoverCake’s list for the month. The book was in the news again on July 29, when former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura was awarded $1.8 million in damages in a defamation case against the estate of the late author and Navy SEAL sniper. “Most of the comments [about the book] came from men,” said Costello, adding “they were very negative toward Ventura.”
CoverCake’s Top 10 Books in Social Media, July 2014
| Rank | Title | Author | BookScan* | Scale** | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fifty Shades of Grey | E.L. James | 23 | 10 | 23% | 77% |
| 2 | American Sniper | Chris Kyle | – | 9 | 69 | 31 |
| 3 | If I Stay | Gayle Forman | 5 | 7 | 38 | 62 |
| 4 | Divergent | Veronica Roth | 18 | 6 | 41 | 59 |
| 5 | The Fault in Our Stars | John Green | 2 | 5 | 36 | 64 |
| 6 | Big Little Lies | Liane Moriarty | NYP | 3 | 41 | 59 |
| 7 | The Fortune Hunter | Daisy Goodwin | NYP | 2 | 48 | 52 |
| 8 | A Perfect Life | Danielle Steel | 4 | 1 | 29 | 71 |
| 9 | Act of War | Brad Thor | 30 | 1 | 51 | 49 |
| 10 | Mean Streak | Sandra Brown | NYP | 1 | 40 | 60 |
* For the week ended July 27.
A dash (–) indicates that the book did not appear among Nielsen Bookscan’s top 100 bestselling titles.
NYP indicates that the title was not yet published by July 27.
** Number of comments about the book in question for every 10 comments about the #1 title.
