'Lost Symbol' Gets Fast Start, Trailed by 'True Compass'
By Jim Milliot, Claire Kirch and Judith Rosen -- Publishers Weekly, 9/16/2009 7:12:00 AM
Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol seemed do deliver the big sales on day one that publisher Random House was counting on. Barnes & Noble announced late yesterday that the sales for the book, which had the largest pre-order for any adult fiction title in the store’s history, exceeded expectations. Independent booksellers polled by PW had a more mixed response, although most said they were selling the title steadily, and some at full price unlike the deep discounts offered by the chains and online retailers. The Lost Symbol, which PW called a "breakneck thriller," remained at #1 on Amazon's bestseller list; Borders had no comment on how sales of the book did yesterday. B&N noted that The Lost Symbol was its top selling e-book and, in Amazon's Kindle Store, the title is also #1.
Random said it sold more than 1 million copies of Symbol in the U.S. Canada and the U.K. on the first day of sale and is going back to press for 600,000 copies for accounts in North America.
In addition to Lost Symbol, B&N said it was seeing strong sales of Jon Krakauer’s Where Men Win Glory, the late Senator Edward Kennedy’s True Compass, and Paul Harrington’s The Secret to Teen Power yesterday, all of which added up to a “record breaking sales day,” said Jaime Carey, Chief Merchandising Officer for B&N.
Independent booksellers also reported that sales of the Kennedy book were solid on the day it was released, especially in New England, where sales where running neck-and-neck with Brown. “We sold out of what we received on the 14th by noon and restocked through the distributor,” said Jeff Smull of Toadstool Bookshop in Keene, N.H. about True Compass. The store sold 10 copies of Lost Symbol and Smull was confident the store will “blow through” the 100 remaining copies.
Joe Drabyak of Chester County Book & Music Company in West Chester, Pa. sold 26 copies of Brown yesterday despite concerns over pricing (Chester discounted Symbol 30%). The store also sold 15 copies of True Compass at full price. Drabyak is also president of the NAIBA, and in that role said he was disappointed Random didn’t do more to support Symbol sales through independents. “There’s no foam core poster, no standees. It would have been nice if there had been something to make a window display. There were no galley mailings. What actually did they spend their money on?,” Drabyak wondered.
In the Midwest, several independents said they had sold few, if any copies of Symbol, because of deep discounting by non-bookstore outlets, especially Target. Hans Weyandt, co-owner of Micawber’s in St. Paul, didn’t sell any copies of Symbol which he attributed to Target, noting the full page ad the chain took out in the New York Times Sunday Book Review promoting the book for $16.99 (full price is $29.95). “I can’t compete with that,” he said.
Susan Capaldi, manager of McLean & Eakin, Petoskey, Mich. said that sales of Symbol were "brisk." People who pre-ordered came in immediately to pick up the book, she said, and others came in after seeing him on the Today Show. The store sold 24 copies. "That's fabulous," Capaldi said.
Nicola Rooney, owner of Nicola's in Ann Arbor, Mich. had what could be called a bipartisan day. She sold 10 copies at of Symbol at full price and sold 8 copies of True Compass; one woman called to reserve three more copies of Kennedy; a while later a man came in and bought Compass and then returned to buy Symbol.
,
