Joe Posnanski's Paterno sold 11,439 copies in its first week, good enough to place it #1 on the adult nonfiction frontlist bestseller list, edging the #2 book, Obama's America by Dinesh D'Souza, by just over 300 copies. On the overall adult bestseller list across all titles, Paterno landed at #15. The numbers are according to NielsenBookScan.

Regionally, areas of Pennsylvania saw the highest sales, with five of the top six areas coming from the state. The top sales areas were: Philadelphia, Harrisburg-York-Lancaster-Lebanon, Johnstown-Altoona, New York, Wilkes-Barre-Scranton, and Pittsburgh.

In the days leading up to its publication on August 21, the book was ranked around #30 on Amazon's bestseller list, and it gradually slid throughout last week. As of August 29, the book is ranked #158 and #659 for Kindle.