Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
The New York Times Best Books of the 21st Century is Moving Units
I have gotten emails from booksellers and librarians (and regular book buyers and borrowers too) that The New York Times Best Books of the 21st Century list is bringing people into stores and libraries in a significant way. And I have seen quite a few social posts like this one that make me think this isn’t just a BR-audience effect.
Well, now I have some data for you to back these reports up. According to Circana, the top 10 books on the list saw an average sales boost of 113% last week. Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald saw a sales boost of more than 600%, likely as it was one of the most under-known books at the top of the list. Pretty impressive.
Orbit Books Launches Horror Imprint, Run For It
I am not sure that I have written about how horror has quietly been the hottest thing in publishing outside of the world of romance/romantasy. There have been several new imprints, sales are great, and a new generation of horror authors are making names for themselves. I have even talked to publishers that are bringing horror-like (light?) titles to younger readers in middle grade and even into chapter books. Of course, the fright and gore factor will be ratcheted down, but scary is in. In my own house, a little light-horror is a couch-pleaser (think Wednesday for example).
Apple’s Original Content Spending Spree Might Finally Be Over
Every streamer whose primary business is making money from streaming has cut back, painfully most often, on dollars going into productions. The two players, Apple and Amazon, for whom making money on these projects is more nice-to-have than a need-to-have had still been throwing bags of cash at huge projects, so mixed (charitably, he says) results and reviews. I have been waiting for the moment when these strategic players finally got tired of spending their way to relevance, and it looks like it might be here. I hope if you had a high-concept thriller or third-tier fantasy series that you got your money already because the Golden Age of Adaptations seems to be coming to an end.
The Readers’ List of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, Predicting Obama’s Summer Reading List, and more.
On the most recent episode of the Book Riot podcast, Rebecca and I are back to do more discussion of The New York Times‘s list of the Best Books of the 21st Century, go over the reader version of the list, predict what books we think are the most likely to make Obama’s summer reading list, talk about their recent reading, and more.