NEW YORK – The weekly list of best-selling books published by USA Today, which had been on hiatus since December, was reinstated on Wednesday.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled because this content is important to our vast audience and uniquely supports the communities we serve,” said Kristin Roberts, Gannett Media’s chief content officer, in a statement.
Gannett had not published the list since Mary Cadden, the long-time compiler, was laid go late last year. According to Erik Bursch, senior product and engineering vice president, Cadden’s laborious logging of sales numbers has been automated. Barbara VanDenburgh, the paper’s books editor, will oversee the list otherwise.
The publishing business has long regarded the USA Today rankings as a thorough, data-driven consumer market assessment method. The top 150 books on the list began in 1993 and are “based exclusively on sales analysis from U.S. booksellers including bookstore chains, independent bookstores, mass merchandisers, and online retailers.” Unlike The New York Times and other lists, USA Today does not break hardcovers, paperbacks, audiobooks, and e-books into different categories, instead collecting them all, regardless of category or release date.
The weekly list of best-selling books published by USA Today, which had been on hiatus since December, was reinstated on Wednesday.
Elin Hilderbrand’s latest beach book, “The Five-Star Weekend,” was the top seller on Wednesday’s list, followed by Bonnie Garmus’ popular debut novel “Lessons in Chemistry” and Ali Hazelwood’s humorous romance “Love, Theoretically.” Others include “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” as well as Paul McCartney’s photographic book “1964,” David Sedaris’ “Happy-Go-Lucky,” and Cormac McCarthy’s celebrated work “Blood Meridian,” which died earlier this month.
VanDenburgh said that in addition to sales rankings, USA Today will include feature stories on independent vendors nationwide and recommendations from small business owners. The restored list is a collaboration of the American Booksellers Association, the trade group for independent bookstores; Bookshop.org, an online retailer that splits money with independent sellers; and St. Louis’ The Novel Neighbour bookstore.
“ABA is excited about this partnership with USA Today and the opportunity to spread the word about the value of independent bookstores to communities and readers,” said Allison K. Hill, CEO of the bookseller’s group.
The resuscitation of the USA Today list follows last week’s announcement that Bookforum, an online literary journal that collapsed around the same time Cadden left, will relaunch in August in collaboration with the liberal weekly The Nation. Penske Media Corporation shuttered Bookforum in December, shortly after acquiring Artforum, its sister publication.
SOURCE – (AP)
