 Check out TED's compilation of three different bestseller lists with an analysis of possible trends, regional selling disparities, and the little debuts that could. NEW! August, 2008 July, 2008 June, 2008 April, 2008
ARCHIVES: December 2007 There’s a surprising amount of historical fiction on this month’s bestseller lists: THE WORLD WITHOUT END, by Ken Follett; THE CHASE, by Clive Cussler; RHETT BUTLER’S PEOPLE, by Donald McCaig; GENTLEMEN OF THE ROAD, by Michael Chabon; MISTER B. GONE, by Clive Cussler; and THE UNCOMMON READER, by Alan Bennett to name a few. Read more .
November 2007 For whatever reason, the LA Times has shortened their bestseller list to 10 titles instead of 15. The tightening of book section belts has been widely publicized, so this might be a side effect. There are no debut novels on the bestseller lists this month, which is always a little sad. Read more.
October 2007 A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS has finally been knocked out of first position this month by John Grisham’s PLAYING FOR PIZZA about an American footballer joining the Italian football team—a rather bizarre tradeoff. Weirdly, Grisham’s novel doesn’t appear on the L.A. Times’ list and does appear on Booksense, a list usually reserved for less mainstream titles. PLAYING FOR PIZZA is Grisham’s first non-mystery/thriller book in quite a while, basing the sports novel on a true story of athletes getting paid with food. Read more.
September 2007
The bestseller lists are surprisingly similar this month, with different variations of the same song. Even Booksense is reflecting the New York and Los Angeles lists with only Matt Ruff’s BAD MONKEY making an unexpected appearance. All three lists feature bizarre spins on the ever-popular detective mystery theme: PLAY DIRTY features a disgraced NFL quarterback, POWER PLAY is a corporate thriller, and SPOOK COUNTRY has an addict/cryptographer fighting against bureaucracy. Then there are the oldie-but-goodies—for example, FORCE OF NATURE could be any detective fiction ever written, and Patterson’s THE QUICKIE isn’t far behind. Read more.
August 2007
August is a boom month for detective fiction, as 12 of 15 are some mix of FBI/local sheriff/foxy detective investigating some mix of terrorism/kidnapping/assassination. It’s no wonder that agents are buying stock in this genre. Read more.
July 2007
This month is not a very surprising one in bestseller news. The heavy hitters have written their umpteenth bestseller—Steel, Evanovich, King—and the amount of detective fiction is staggering. Ten out of fifteen on the NYT list are detective fiction—you have to credit these authors with giving the people what they want. Read more.
June 2007
It seems that the two years The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini spent on the bestseller lists has transferred its momentum to A Thousand Splendid Suns, now the number one fiction title on the New York Times. It has even overtaken Rhonda Byrnes’ The Secret according to USA Today. Read more.
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TED founder Renni Browne chats with Owen Laster shortly after his retirement from one of the world's most successful talent agencies and discusses his decision to leave publishing. 
