An Actor’s Author Odyssey

The #3 book on our overall bestseller list is An Author’s Odyssey, fifth in the Land of Stories series from Glee actor-turned-middle-grade writer Chris Colfer. Print unit sales have been strong, topping 1.1 million over five books, and after a sophomore slump, first-week sales have been on an upswing.

2016 An Author’s Odyssey 28K
2015 Beyond the Kingdoms 19K
2014 A Grimm Warning 15K
2012 The Wishing Spell 11K
2013 The Enchantress Returns 7,393

(See all of this week's bestselling books.)

Fighting Words

New to this week’s Hardcover Nonfiction list are a pair of titles by military veterans. At #9, The Field of Fight is a call to action by Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, an intelligence officer for three decades, and Michael Ledeen, a 20-year veteran of American Enterprise Institute. Its subtitle: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies.

The Last Punisher, at #12, offers an account of the 2006 Battle of Ramadi, written by Kevin Lacz with Ethan E. Rocke and Lindsey Lacz,

Kevin’s wife. Kevin Lacz was a member of SEAL Team Three with Chris Kyle, who is the author and subject of American Sniper; Lacz also played himself in the movie.

Movers & Shakers

Two books examining issues of race, a subject very much in the public consciousness these days, saw sales improve in the week leading up to the Republican National Convention. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, a mainstay of our Hardcover Nonfiction list for a solid year, had its best sales week since February, moving up two notches on the list to #5. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson returns to our Trade Paperback list at #18 with its best showing since the December 2015 holidays.

The Black Widow
Daniel Silva
#1 Hardcover Fiction, #1 overall

Our starred review said that in his latest thriller, “Silva proves once again that he can rework familiar genre material and bring it to new life.”

Freedom
Jaycee Dugard
#3 Hardcover Nonfiction

Dugard recounted her abduction and 18-year imprisonment in 2011’s A Stolen Life, which has sold 703K print copies. Here, she writes of how she has adjusted, postcaptivity.

You’ll Grow Out of It
Jessi Klein
#11 Hardcover Nonfiction

Amy Schumer contributed a cover blurb for this memoir by Klein, head writer on Schumer’s Comedy Central series. Schumer’s memoir, The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, pubs Aug. 16.

Top 10 Overall

Rank Title Author Imprint Units
1 The Black Widow Daniel Silva Harper 51,663
2 The Girl on the Train Paula Hawkins Riverhead 50,583
3 An Author’s Odyssey (The Land of Stories #5) Chris Colfer Little, Brown 28,551
4 Serafina and the Twisted Staff Robert Beatty Disney-Hyperion 19,498
5 Night Elie Wiesel Hill and Wang 18,946
6 Crisis of Character Gary J. Byrne Center Street 18,851
7 Silver Linings Debbie Macomber Ballantine 17,419
8 Magic Danielle Steel Delacorte 16,153
9 Me Before You (movie tie-in) Jojo Moyes Penguin 15,970
10 Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Ransom Riggs Quirk 15,017

All unit sales per Nielsen BookScan except where noted.