We hope you’re sitting down. And not just because it’s not safe to compute and stand. The only thing worse is using a cell phone while reading blogs. So, seated? Comfy? Ready to have your mind blown? If that’s the case, probably you should hit another site. We’re tired after a long day of doing nothing much at all.
The Da Vinci Code may be loosening its grip on hardcover lists. Like all champs, it put up the good fight, but is finally seeing the end of a long, productive career. It was only a matter of time — by our estimation, every household in the universe owns approximately two copies of the book. One for reading, one for collecting. Those babies will be valuable in years to come.
Sure, the evidence is flimsy: the book is number 6 on the New York Times’ bestseller list. This is an unprecedented low. There could be a resurgence. The Fourth of July bookbuying season is just around the corner. It’s a temporary setback for the heavyweight champion of the world:
Stephen Rubin, the publisher of Doubleday, a division of Random House, said in an interview on Friday that he believed “The Da Vinci Code” had fallen down the list not because of lagging sales but because of the strength of several recent books, including new novels by James Patterson, Nicholas Sparks and Michael Connelly.
In other words, he’ll be back. Just you wait and see. Those other guys can’t go the distance. In the meantime, we anticipate the arrival of the Da Vinci paperback. Based on our extensive knowledge of all things publishing, we anticipate the sales per household to reach somewhere in the low severals.
By the way, if we move this death watch to a Day Two, you have our permission to take our laptop away from our pathetic little fingers.
3 responses so far ↓
Brenda Coulter // Jun 1, 2005 at 5:14 am
Hooray, hooray! I just read in The Book Standard that the producers of the Da Vinci Code movie (you knew there would have to be a movie, Booksquare) have been denied permission to film in Westminster Abbey because the book is “theologically unsound”.
Yes, it’s only a small victory, we know the movie is eventually going to be inflicted on us, but I think we should count every day it’s delayed as a blessing.
😉
Karen // Jun 1, 2005 at 7:16 am
I don’t know enough about the marketing end of publishing to understand when a mega-gazillion-selling novel falls far enough down the list to justify a move to paperback. In this household, especially for this particular book, it’s not a signal to buy. But even books that I’m initially quite interested in appeal less when they’re kept in hardcover much longer than the usual 9 mos- 1 year. It makes me think that all concerned are greedy, greedy, greedy, and that dampens my interest.
Booksquare // Jun 1, 2005 at 8:04 am
Ah, Brenda, I work in Hollywood…of course there’s a movie. I believe it’s starring Tom Hanks, though I wouldn’t quote me on that. In fact, I believe it’s due out next May — it will be the, uh, Star Wars of 2006.
In the interest of saving everyone else the time, I did indeed read this book. It is indeed everything you think and more. Which is sad because the subject matter is of mild interest to me. That being said, Karen, are you actually suggesting that publishers might be motivated by filthy lucre? The thought…