Volume 261
Issue 29
07/21/2014
Bestseller Stat Shot
Summer: time to take a trip, hit the beach, relax a bit, and, for many thousands of students across America, work through a summer reading list. Indeed, sales of American classic novels—the kind that often appear on summer reading lists—are trending upward, but they aren’t the only books to enjoy a seasonal boost: Harper Perennial’s updated edition of Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor (originally published in 2003) has been quietly climbing the trade paperback list all summer, and this week it sits at #10. Here is a selection of this week’s most popular classics.
| To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | Mass Market | 8,540 | 30% |
| Fahrenheit 451 | Ray Bradbury | Trade Paper | 7,897 | 19% |
| Lord of the Flies | William Golding | Mass Market | 6,556 | 30% |
| 1984 | George Orwell | Mass Market | 6,432 | 14% |
| The Great Gatsby | F. Scott Fitzgerald | Trade Paper | 6,048 | 34% |
| The Catcher in the Rye | J.D. Salinger | Mass Market | 5,320 | 19% |
| Animal Farm | George Orwell | Mass Market | 4,783 | 33% |
From the Newsletters
PW staff members pick their favorite funny books.
Inside Scholastic’s plans for TombQuest, the publisher’s latest multiplatform series.
Copyright: the best $35 an indie author will ever spend.
The big comics and graphic novels of fall 2014.
The most-read review on publishersweekly.com last week was Soldier of Change: From the Closet to the Forefront of the Gay Rights Movement by Stephen Snyder-Hill (Univ. of Nebraska/Potomac).
Podcasts
The pseudonymous Pseudonymous Bosch talks about his new book, Bad Magic, as well as strategies for staying one step ahead of his enemies.
Talking with writer and comics editor Joe Illidge about his career, diversity in the comics industry, and cowriting the forthcoming graphic novel The Ren (Roaring Brook/First Second).
PW senior writer Andrew Albanese looks at the broad strokes of Apple’s e-book price-fixing settlement, and what the deal might mean for publishers—and for Amazon.
Blogs
Some things you may have missed if you haven’t checked PW’s Tumblr lately: the #worstbookever hashtag, a letter that Ayn Rand wrote to Cat Fancy magazine, Nabokov’s hand-drawn map of Ulysses, and more.
The thinking behind a free bookmobile in rural Vermont.
Events
Going to San Diego Comic-Con? PW staffers are moderating two panels that are not to be missed:
Behind the Digital Line (Friday, July 25, 10 a.m.)
A look at how technology has changed the way comics are created, distributed, written, illustrated, and read. Moderated by senior news editor Calvin Reid.
Creating Great Graphic Novel Events in Libraries (Sunday, July 27, 4 p.m.)
Ideas for putting on comics events at your local library: how to, why to, and more. Moderated by comics reviews editor Heidi MacDonald.
Joseph Luzzi discusses his new memoir, My Two Italies (FSG). Plus, Carl Pritzkat, PW’s v-p of business development, gives an overview of BookLife, our new website for indie authors.
