Without a blockbuster release in January, the most-discussed books in social media circles last month remained the same as in December, although there was some shifting of the order, with Fifty Shades of Grey taking over the #1 spot from The Hobbit, according to CoverCake’s analysis of books trending on social media. Two books that hit the bestseller lists for the first time in recent weeks cracked the top 10 in January, with Lawrence Wright’s examination of Scientology, Going Clear, landing in the eighth position, while Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s memoir, My Beloved World, came in 10th. Movie awards season continued to keep five books tied to films in CoverCake’s top 10, with Life of Pi being perhaps the biggest beneficiary of movie-related chatter, making it #2 on the CoverCake list. First released in 2002, Pi sold almost 28,000 trade paperback copies in January at outlets tracked by Nielsen BookScan.
CoverCake’s Top 10 Books in Social Media, January 2013
| Rank | Title | Author | Scale* | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fifty Shades of Grey | E.L. James | 10 | 22% | 78% |
| 2 | Life of Pi | Yann Martel | 9 | 34 | 66 |
| 3 | The Hobbit | J.R.R. Tolkien | 8 | 42 | 58 |
| 4 | Les Misérables | Victor Hugo | 8 | 27 | 73 |
| 5 | Catching Fire | Suzanne Collins | 7 | 26 | 74 |
| 6 | Gone Girl | Gillian Flynn | 5 | 34 | 66 |
| 7 | Agenda 21 | Glenn Beck | 4 | 63 | 37 |
| 8 | Going Clear | Lawrence Wright | 3 | 45 | 55 |
| 9 | Mockingjay | Suzanne Collins | 3 | 29 | 71 |
| 10 | My Beloved World | Sonia Sotomayor | 1 | 40 | 60 |
| *How many conversations took place about the book in question for every 10 comments about book #1 | |||||
