Bestseller Stat Shot

In the most recent battle of the blockbusters, Danielle Steel’s A Perfect Life (Delacorte) edged out Mark Greaney’s Tom Clancy: Support and Defend (Putnam) to become the top-selling hardcover fiction title this week. This is Steel’s second book in a row to debut at #1 on the fiction list: Power Play topped the chart earlier this year. Her previous title, Winners, landed at #2 during its first week on sale, behind John Grisham’s Sycamore Row (Doubleday), back in 2013, but Steel probably didn’t have time to notice, given the three-book-a-year pace at which she’s been publishing. Here’s the first-week print sales performance of Steel’s five most recent novels, all of which have been published during Obama’s second term.

A Perfect Life July 2014 30,330
Power Play Mar. 2014 27,360
Winners Nov. 2013 33,144
First Sight July 2013 37,272
Until the End of Time Jan. 2013 34,427

From the Newsletters

Tip Sheet

Some of the most anticipated books of fall 2014.

Children’s Bookshelf

Lane Smith, illustrator of The Stinky Cheese Man (Viking) and many other acclaimed picture books, is writing his first novel; PW gets the exclusive.

The BookLife Report

Why all writers need editors.

Blogs

Among the finds over at PW’s Tumblr is an epic infographic about epic novels, epic poems, epic series, and more.

ShelfTalker

Talking with Amy Zhang, whose debut novel, Falling into Place (HarperCollins), publishes this fall.

Congrats to PW children’s bookselling blogger Josie Leavitt, who was just voted Vermont’s best stand-up comic.

Podcasts

The Week Ahead

PW senior writer Andrew Albanese on how the Amazon-Hachette dispute is playing out on the PR front, plus how library e-book subscriptions could be a game changer.

More to Come

The More to Come crew recaps the 2014 Comic-Con International: San Diego.

PW Radio

Maximillian Potter, author of Shadows in the Vineyard (Grand Central), explores agricultural terrorism and the love of the land in Burgundy’s famous wineries. PW senior news editor Calvin Reid hits the highlights of Comic-Con International: San Diego, including the Eisner Awards and some surprising news from Chuck Palahniuk.

The most-read review on publishersweekly.com last week was Shifting Shadows by Patricia Briggs (Ace).

Did you know you can check out over 14,000 titles­—both adult and children’s—publishing this fall at PW’s online announcements database? You can browse by pub month, category, publisher, and more, or search for individual titles. It’s all here.