Andrew Wheeler has made a habit of rounding up genre bestsellers from Publishers Weekly’s list, and if you separate out the Star Wars stuff, an interesting trend emerges:
In Adult Hardcovers:
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Sean Williams, 103,232
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars by Karen Traviss, 101,146
- Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Invincible, Troy Denning, 101,034
And in New Children’s paperback:
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Tracey West, 190,700
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Battle at Teth, Kirsten Mayer, 186,282
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The New Padawan, Eric Stevens, 152,661
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Intergalactic Adventure: Activity Book, no author listed, 119,621
- Star Wars Fandex, Christopher Cerasi, 103,191
In short, The Clone Wars kids books sold significantly more copies than the adult books. Behold, the power of a theatrical release…
Interesting, if rather sad factoid: Stephenie Meyer outsells everyone. No, seriously. But then, in a year where Dean Koontz outsells Stephen King, can we really be surprised?
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10 responses so far ↓
1 Pabawan // Apr 28, 2009 at 2:31 pm
So these books sell ~150K copies… and 2-3MM people watch an episode. Don’t let people who debate continuity get a hold of these numbers! ;)
2 Toph // Apr 28, 2009 at 3:17 pm
I’ve gotta admit, this saddens me. I mean, I’ve seen every TCW episode a couple times, and I thoroughly enjoyed it all, and I’m thoroughly looked forward to Season 2, butttt….
3 Bonnie // Apr 28, 2009 at 3:29 pm
We need to tally how well the comics do as well, compared to other titles. I know that The Clone Wars Adventures comics always sell out at my comic store I go to!
4 Pabawan // Apr 28, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Comics are almost another order of magnitude removed from book sales. Check it:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19758
While a best-selling title could and can break 100K copies on a monthly basis, SW titles seem to perform around the 30K number or lower.
ph
5 Stooge // Apr 28, 2009 at 5:02 pm
I’m just happy them kids are readin’.
6 Toph // Apr 28, 2009 at 5:57 pm
That’s the spirit, Stooge. :)
7 Dunc // Apr 28, 2009 at 6:15 pm
As long as that’s not ALL they’re reading. Even Twilight is acceptable, if it’s just one among many. I can’t deny reading my fair share of 80′s/90′s YA crap (R.L. Stine, Sweet Valley, etc.) as a kid.
8 Stooge // Apr 28, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Hey, I grew up reading Encyclopedia Brown and Far Side collections. I don’t judge.
9 jawajames // Apr 28, 2009 at 10:15 pm
don’t forget The Three Investigators!
anyway.. so do the SW paperbacks do as well as the hardcovers, or not as well – i’d think that cost is a factor in readership — those kid’s books aren’t $27 a pop like the hardcovers are.
10 Dunc // Apr 29, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Stooge, there is NOTHING shameful about The Far Side. NOTHING.
James: I don’t know – none of the adult PBs showed up. I think Wheeler would have included them if they had.
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