As befits one more year of strident political discussion dominating public consciousness, political books sold well in the print sector in the first half of 2018. Macmillan, in particular, has seen its books perform well, with Michael Wolff’s tell-all Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House (Henry Holt) settling in as the year’s bestseller to date and James Comey’s A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership (Flatiron) making the #3 spot. Even political parodies did well: Chronicle Books’s crashed children’s title Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Presents a Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, written by Jill Twiss and illustrated by E.G. Keller, which details a fictional same-sex romance between U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s pet rabbit and another rabbit named Wesley, came in at #6.
Otherwise, children’s literature and other adult nonfiction books dominated the top 10. A cookbook, Joanna Gaines’s Magnolia Table: A Collection of Recipes for Gathering, was the #2 bestseller in the year so far, and nonfiction books by Jordan Peterson and Jen Sincero placed at #7 and #10, respectively. Children’s authors Madeleine L’Engle, Dav Pilkey, and Dr. Seuss all saw books in the top 10, too. The only adult fiction title to hit the list, at #9, was James Patterson’s collaboration with former president Bill Clinton, The President Is Missing. Even fiction, it seems, can’t escape the clutches of politics.
Fire and Fury was also the top-selling title in e-books, according to lists compiled by both Barnes & Noble and Apple/iBooks (PW has opted to change to the iBooks and BN.com e-book lists, from Amazon, since the online retailer’s list now skews heavily to titles released by Amazon publishing units and also includes sales made through the Kindle Unlimited program). Comey’s book placed #8 on the iBooks list, but did not appear in the top 10 at B&N. On both lists, as is typical with e-books, fiction titles were more prominent than nonfiction, compared to print lists, with A.J. Finn’s The Woman in the Window placing at #2 on both lists, while novels by David Baldacci, Lisa Wingate, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, and Kristin Hannah appeared on the top 10 of both e-book lists.
NPD BookScan Top 20 Print books, January 1–July 1, 2018
| 1. | Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff (Holt) |
| 2. | Magnolia Table by Joanna Gaines (Harper) |
| 3. | A Higher Loyalty by James Comey (Flatiron) |
| 4. | A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (Macmillan) |
| 5. | Dog Man and Cat Kid by Dav Pilkey (Scholastic) |
| 6. | A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Marlon Bundo (Chronicle) |
| 7. | 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson (Random Canada) |
| 8. | Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss (Random) |
| 9. | The President Is Missing by Bill Clinton/James Patterson (Little, Brown/Knopf) |
| 10. | You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero (Hachette) |
| 11. | The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson (Harper) |
| 12. | The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur (Andrews McMeel) |
| 13. | Wonder by R.J. Palacio (Random) |
| 14. | Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur (Andrews McMeel) |
| 15. | The Outsider by Stephen King (S&S) |
| 16. | Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss (Random) |
| 17. | Diary of a Wimpy Kid #12 by Jeff Kinney (Abrams) |
| 18. | The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn (Morrow) |
| 19. | The Great Alone by Hannah Kristin (St. Martin’s) |
| 20. | Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath (Gallup) |
Apple/iBooks Top 10 e-books, January 1–June 30, 2018
| 1. | Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff (Holt) |
| 2. | The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn (Morrow) |
| 3. | The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen (St. Martin’s) |
| 4. | Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (Penguin) |
| 5. | The Fallen by David Baldacci (Grand Central) |
| 6. | The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin’s) |
| 7. | The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson (Harper) |
| 8. | A Higher Loyalty by James Comey (Flatiron) |
| 9. | Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (Ballantine) |
| 10. | Origin by Dan Brown (Anchor) |
BN.COM Top 10 e-books, January 1–June 30, 2018
| 1. | Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff (Holt) |
| 2. | The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn (Morrow) |
| 3. | The Fallen by David Baldacci (Grand Central) |
| 4. | The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin’s) |
| 5. | The 17th Suspect by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown) |
| 6. | The President Is Missing by Bill Clinton & James Patterson (L,B/Knopf) |
| 7. | Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts (St. Martin’s) |
| 8. | Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (Ballantine) |
| 9. | The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen (St. Martin’s) |
| 10. | Dark in Death by J.D. Robb (St. Martin’s) |
