In light of tomorrow’s announcement of the National Book Award winners, Publisher’s Marketplace put together a compilation of sales info for the fiction nominees. Collum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin is the frontrunner for total sales, while Bonnie Jo Campbell’s American Salvage ranks last (although Campbell ranks second in number of copies sold since the nominations, at 600). Check out the list of totals to date via outlets tracked by Nielsen BookScan:
Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann           19,000 copies
Lark and Termite, by Jayne Anne Phillips           15,000 copies
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, by Daniyal Mueenuddin   9,000 copies
Far North, by Marcel Theroux                        1,400 copies
American Salvage, by Bonnie Jo Campbell                1,300 copies
Of course sales have no correlation to winning an NBA, but for comparison’s sake, Publisher’s Marketplace notes that Peter Mathiessen’s Shadow Country, last year’s fiction winner, sold approximately 6,000 copies in hardcover prior to winning the award.
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