This Week's Bestsellers: October 13, 2014

Tales from a Not-So-Small Debut Week

In 2009, Rachel Renée Russell introduced middle-grade readers to fictional diarist Nikki Maxwell, who has proven to be rather prolific. Eight (and a half) installments later, the comic-novel hybrid series is still going strong, with the newest title debuting at the top of our Children’s Fiction list. Here’s how it stacks up against previous entries.

‘Girl’ Gone Wild

With a reported $3.5 million advance for her first essay collection, Not That Kind of Girl, there was little doubt Lena Dunham’s book would land on the bestseller list. This week, it debuts on our Hardcover Nonfiction list at #3. Publicity efforts cranked up well before publication, with a September 14 interview in the New York Times Magazine, the cover of which showed Dunham rendered as a marble bust by artist Victoria Diehl. Good Morning America previewed the issue, and the Times later posted a behind-the-scenes video of the process. Dunham is making the TV and radio rounds—Good Morning America, the View, the Daily Show, NPR’s Fresh Air, and Howard Stern—and appearing at sold-out live events across the country. The tour continues this week with dates in Austin, Pasadena, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland—and, naturally, Brooklyn.—Mark Rotella

How to Get on the Bestseller List

Debuting at #13 on our Hardcover Nonfiction list with more than 6K copies sold, Steven Johnson’s How We Got to Now traces the history of six everyday objects, among them a refrigerator, a clock, and a glass of water, to show how innovation and creativity emerge from “collaborative networks” and the intersection of different domains. Fittingly, in the week leading up to publication, Johnson took to multiple domains to promote his book. He landed a segment on the Daily Show, followed by an AMA (“ask me anything”) q&a session on Reddit; he’s also hosting a related six-part documentary on PBS. How We Got to Now, which PW’s starred review called “fascinating,” grew out of research Johnson did for Where Good Ideas Come From (2010)—not a surprise to the author’s fans. In a September 2010 interview with PW, Johnson said that all his books are in conversation with one another: “This is exactly the network property of ideas.”—Annie Coreno

Other Notable Debuts

Two web-to-print releases hit the lists this week.

• At #2 on our Hardcover Nonfiction list, The Skinnytaste Cookbook by blogger Gina Homolka netted some fat numbers, with 42K units sold. Marketing plans include a partnership with gift basket purveyor Harry & David.

• Matthew Inman’s The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances, at #6 on our Trade Paperback list with more than 10K sold, grew out of a character on his comics blog, The Oatmeal.

Top 10 Overall