Publishers Weekly January 17, 2022

Independent booksellers across the U.S. reported having strong sales in 2021, especially in the final months of the year, when nearly every store opted to return to in-store shopping for the holiday season. The well-publicized supply chain issues affected fewer titles than expected. A number of book categories that had driven sales in 2020—notably, politics—fell off in popularity last year, booksellers said, while self-help and personal growth continued to gain momentum, fueled by late-in-the-year bestsellers like Brene Brown’s Atlas of the Heart. Online sales are here to stay, though many booksellers are relieved by the transition back to in-store shopping and the shift away from being virtual fulfillment centers. And much uncertainty remains regarding events. Many booksellers said they plan to do exclusively online events as long as the omicron surge continues,…

Unit sales of print books fell 13.9% in the week ended Jan. 8, 2022, compared to the first week in 2021, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The only two categories that had increases over the week ended Jan. 9, 2021, were adult fiction, which was up 4.5%, and YA fiction, which had a 4.2% gain. Adult fiction sales were helped by two authors who are TikTok favorites. Colleen Hoover had the first-, third-, and fifth-bestselling books in the category, led by It Ends with Us, which sold more than 41,000 copies. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid was #2 on the list, selling more than 25,000 copies. The top-selling new release was Danielle Steel’s Invisible, which sold almost 19,000 copies. The top-selling new book…

After Heavy Metal first appeared in the U.S. in 1977, the illustrated science fiction magazine quickly stamped its imprint on American popular culture in the form of its gleaming chrome-plated logo. Originally founded in France as Metal Hurlant, the renamed U.S. version, from the publishers of the National Lampoon, offered a mix of sophisticated Euro-comics by such legendary European artists as Enki Bilal, Philippe Druillet, Milo Manara, and the great Moebius. The magazine was an immediate hit, filled with bare-chested fantasy barbarian babes; American standout cartoonists such as Vaughn Bode, Richard Corben, and Bernie Wrightson; and cutting-edge cultural commentary, all put together with high production values. At a time when American newsstand comics were still being printed on newsprint, the glossy Heavy Metal warped the minds of a generation of (mostly…

DEAL OF THE WEEK Grand Central Buys Liverbirds Memoir Mary Dostal and Sylvia Wiggins, who were members of the Liverbirds, the U.K.’s first all-female rock band, sold a memoir to Grand Central Publishing. Karen Kosztolnyik nabbed North American rights, in a deal brokered by Susan Golomb at Writers House on behalf of Jenny Hewson at London’s Luytens & Rubinstein. The band was featured in a short documentary by the New York Times that Grand Central said has been viewed more than 800,000 times to date. Formed in the 1960s, the Liverbirds toured with the Rolling Stones and the Kinks, but, the publisher explained, their ambitions were derailed by “dramatic life events—as well as events that would only clip the wings of ambitious young women.” The book, tentatively titled The Liverbirds, is…

This year is a special one for Publishers Weekly. On Jan. 18, 1872, the first issue of The Weekly Trade Circular was published, and one year later the magazine was renamed The Publishers’ Weekly (the article and the apostrophe were later dropped). To mark this milestone, PW has created a new logo, and we will be unveiling a range of special initiatives over the course of the year. Beginning today, we will be digging into our digital archive each week to look back on important events that we have reported on over the past 150 years. On page 14, you’ll find the lead story in the first issue of the magazine. Other plans include the publication of a special 150th anniversary issue on April 19, which will present a detailed look…

January 18, 1872 The first story in the first issue of The Weekly Trade Circular (which would be renamed The Publishers’ Weekly in 1873) focused on a review of the literature that had been published in the U.S. in 1871. The story makes reference to the development of a “new school” of writers and points to poetry from poets of “repute or disrepute.” There was also the issue of a “copyright muddle” between the U.S. and England. For the complete article in the Publishers Weekly archive, go to publishersweekly.com/jan-18-1872.…