''Testaments' Off to Recordbreaking Start
Source: Publishers Weekly
The most anticipated book of the fall season is shaping up to deliver for its publisher, Penguin Random House, if not for many independent booksellers, who were hoping the title would smash sales records of their own.
The Testaments, released on Tuesday, has, according to PRH (whose Nan A. Talese imprint published the book), sold over 125,000 copies in its short shelf life. The publisher noted that the performance of the novel, which is Margaret Atwood's sequel to her 1985 bestseller The Handmaid's Tale, makes it the "best day one sales for any Penguin Random House title in 2019." Having gone to press on the novel for an announced 500,000 copies, PRH added that the house has, since Tuesday, already gone back to press twice on The Testaments, and once on The Handmaid's Tale.
Print sales for the book will not be released by BookScan until next week, but the big chains are reporting that it looks to be a hit-in-the-making for them. Barnes & Noble, which did not have hard numbers to release yet, said the book is currently #2 on its bestseller list. Senior director of merchandising for trade books, Liz Harwell, described the first-day sales as "fantastic." She elaborated: " “It was up against tough comparisons for the record books, not least of which was Bob Woodward’s Fear, which was on fire this time last year. We also had one of the best Stephen King launches for quite some time. The Institute did amazingly well, but our bet is that Margaret Atwood will win the race to the top of the bestseller list. Our Book Club sign-ups for The Testaments have been really strong even at this early stage.”
In the U.K., Waterstone's, which hosted a midnight launch party for the title at its flagship location complete with a reading from Atwood, reported, per the Bookseller, that it had its "biggest first days sales of 2019" with the novel.
Read more: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/81168-testaments-off-to-recordbreaing-start.html
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