Target is apparently a big player in selling books. consumers are paying attention to the guiding light of Target and its employees who choose titles to feature.
In publishing circles Target has long been known as a place that can move many copies of discounted best sellers, as do other mass-merchant retailers like Wal-Mart and Costco. But in the last few years, much in the way it has cultivated its image as a counterintuitive purveyor of Isaac Mizrahi clothes or Michael Graves tea kettles, Target has been building itself into a tastemaker for books.
“Sarah’s Key, a debut novel by Tatiana de Rosnay, is a prime example of a title benefiting from Target’s attention: the original hardcover sold only 2,000 copies where as the special Target paperback edition sold 145,000 copies and the regular paperback edition sold 200,000. just a little bump. this also explains why we now have 53 holds on our 14 copies – we had to purchase an additional 10 copies from our original 4 copies bought in 2007. libraries need to pay attention to retail and media outlets pushing books, this is just a small reminder.
(via Bookshelves of Doom)
posting by marin
