HOLIDAY SEASON IN REVIEW

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"When I work, I'm just translating the world around me in what seems to be

straightforward terms.  For my readers, this is sometimes a vision that's not

familiar.  But I'm not trying to manipulate reality.  This is just what I see and hear . . ."

                                        --Don DeLilo

2015: THE HOLIDAY SEASON IN REVIEW

It's official:  The 2015 holiday season is over.  It was an odd one.  There were no last minute Oprah recommendations that everyone absolutely had to have, much to the chagrin of Mitch Albom and The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto (9780062294418) 25.99.  Actually, most of the biggest sellers seemed to be titles that have been out for a bit like Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See (9781476746586) 27.00, Helen Macdonald's H is for Hawk (9780802123411) 26.00, and David McCullough's The Wright Brothers (9781476728742) 30.00.  To no one's great shock, nobody cared about the latest incarnation of Meyer's Twilight (9780316268394) 21.99, and, in fact, I believe you can stick a sharpened stake in the heart of that franchise.  "It's dead, Jim."

  

  

Instead, we were chasing the other Meyer -- Marissa Meyer and her Lunar Chronicles, especially the first one in the series, Cinder (9781250007209) 9.99.  As for other hot teen titles, there wasn't much.  We did well with the two Disney Descendants' titles: Mal's Spell Book (9781484726389) 11.99 and Mal's Diary (9781484726853) 9.99.  Also, Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush, Hush Saga experienced a surprise rebirth with both Hush, Hush (9781416989424) 11.99 and Finale (9781442426689) 11.99 selling the best of the lot.

 

  

As for science fiction or fantasy, or as those literary types like to call it, speculative fiction or magic realism, it was a weak holiday season.  If only George R.R. Martin had  found the time to complete the sixth book in the Song of Ice and Fire series The Winds of Winter, we would be laughing all the way to the bank, but instead, we were sold his prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (9780345533487) 30.00.  To most of us, it was fairly obvious early on that this wasn't what his fans wanted.

  Most of the usual bestselling authors did well.  For example, we're still waiting on the reprint for Nicholas Sparks' See Me (9781455520619) 27.00, and a reprint on Joel Osteen's The Power of I Am (9780892969968) 26.00.  (Yes, Joel has become a holiday fixture on the bestseller lists.)  But, of course, the big winners this year were the coloring books with Ms. Basford leading the way.  We did receive two new coloring books yesterday:  Posh Adult Coloring Books: Happy Doodles for Fun & Relaxation (9781449475581) 12.99 and Paisley Designs for Fun & Relaxation (9781449474201) 12.99.  Sigh . . .

  

 

  Next week, we'll talk about diet books.

 

Don DeLilo has a new book coming in May.  Read about it here: http://flavorwire.com/548047/don-delillo-announces-new-novel-zero-k-about-a-secret-compound-where-death-is-exquisitely-controlled

Odds & Sods

We've been told it's the start of a new tradition -- The college football playoffs will be on New Year's Eve this year.  One of those teams is the Michigan State Spartans, and we will have a new book about the Spartans that will cover the 2015 season in mid-February.  It's called Green Machine (9781597256261) 34.95.  The Lansing State Journal and the Detroit Free Press have joined forces to put together this beautiful coffee table book.  It will be non-returnable, but at a 40% discount.  Go Green!  Go White!

Everyone here at Partners would like to wish you and yours a very Happy New Years!