It Was a Good Thing

Martha Stewart’s 100th book, Martha: The Cookbook, is #1 on our hardcover nonfiction list and #5 in the country. A little background: In 1978, while married to then–Abrams president Andrew Stewart, Martha planned a book party for the publisher. One attendee, then–Crown president Alan Mirken was so “enchanted by the imaginative decor” that, according to PW’s April 9, 1982, issue, “he extended the invitation every aspiring writer longs to hear: ‘If you ever want to write a book...’ ” Entertaining pubbed in October 1982 and by December, when Martha hosted a pizza-making party in Westport, Conn., for Crown execs, PW was calling the title “one of the hottest books of the holiday season.” Below, l. to r.: Susan Eilertsen, associate director of publicity; Stewart; Mirken; Phyllis Fleiss, manager of media rights; Sarah Wright, advertising director and assistant marketing director; and Nancy Kahan, director of publicity and public relations. At the back, from Clarkson Potter, are Carol Southern, editorial director, and Carolyn Hart, editor of the book.

Screen Time

Wicked, Gregory Maguire’s 1995 riff on The Wizard of Oz, has spawned three sequels and a spinoff trilogy, a graphic novel and a prequel (both due out in March), and a Broadway musical that, except for a Covid hiatus, has been running since 2003. A movie adaptation of the musical opened November 22, and the tie-in edition, which pubbed in October, flies to #12 on our trade paperback list. A collector’s edition released a week earlier makes its hardcover fiction list debut at #16.

Party Lines

In the wake of Fox News personality Pete Hegseth’s nomination for U.S. secretary of defense, The War on Warriors returns to our hardcover nonfiction list at #4. Chapter titles include “Supporting DEI Means Soldiers DIE” and “Men Need Purpose, Not Inclusion.” Debuting at #11 on our hardcover nonfiction list, Dawn’s Early Light is by Kevin D. Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, the organization behind Project 2025. It includes a foreword by U.S. VP-elect J.D. Vance.

NEW & NOTABLE

Skyshade
Alex Aster
#1 Children's Fiction, #1 overall
The third novel in Aster’s Lightlark saga sold more than twice as many print copies in its first week on sale as either of its predecessors. The first two books, both also on our list, have sold a combined 664K print copies.

To Die For
David Baldacci
#1 Hardcover Fiction, #3 overall
“Baldacci seamlessly blends a twisty whodunit and a propulsive action plot in his enjoyable third thriller featuring Homeland Security fixer Travis Devine,” according to our review, which singled out a precocious 12-year-old as “a hugely memorable supporting character.”