J.K. Rowling’s new novel for grown-ups, The Silkworm, written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, lands on USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books;http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/best-selling/ list at No. 4.
That’s in contrast to her first detective novel, The Cuckoo’s Calling , which soared to No. 1 last year after it was revealed that Galbraith actually was Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter.
Two factors may have affected Rowling’s sales:
Silkworm, which received rave reviews, was released Thursday; most new titles are released on a Tuesday, giving them two extra days for a list that tracks sales Monday through Sunday.
And perhaps more important, The Silkworm is among the titles affected by a financial dispute between Amazon and the Hachette Book Group, the parent company of Little Brown, Rowling’s publisher.
Amazon, which accounts for about one-third of all books sales, is among the booksellers that report sales data to USA TODAY. Amazon’s sales of The Silkworm are included in this week’s list.
For nearly two months, Amazon has been discouraging its customers from buying about 5,000 Hachette titles, including Rowling’s, by delaying shipments, reducing discounts or not taking pre-orders.
Amazon’s tactics for the fine detective yarn;http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2014/06/12/the-silkworm-a-cormoran-strike-novel/10376093/ keep changing.
Last Thursday morning, Amazon’s website said the estimated shipping time for The Silkworm was “1-2 months.” It also said that a Kindle e-book could not be purchased, although copies, both print and digital, were immediately available from other stores and booksellers.
Later Thursday, Amazon’s website said the e-book and other versions of The Silkworm were available. But the estimated shipping time for the hardcover was two to four weeks, On Friday, Amazon changed the estimated shipping time to one to two days.
But as of Wednesday morning, Amazon’s website said copies of The Slikworm would ship in two to four weeks.
Neither Amazon nor Hachette are publicly answering questions about the dispute which appears to be about who gets what share of the proceeds from book sales. Hachette’s ads for The Silkworm have listed stores and websites where the book is available. Amazon is not on the list.
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