February 23rd, 2006
This is a post written last summer by Sarah Weinman:
Over a three week period this summer, the following sales numbers were recorded for a NYT bestselling thriller writer’s most recent book:
B&N: 4,140
Waldenbooks: 4,888
Borders: 3,993
Anderson Merchandisers/Walmart: 47,671
Target: 16,341
Price/Costco: 17,291
Sam’s: 14,108
Amazon: 320
I’ve had several people email me to say that they can’t find BAD BOYS AHOY! in WalMart. WalMart doesn’t carry erotic titles usually. Although I’ve been told a few sneak in if the cover is innocuous enough.
It’s a bit scary when Walmart controls 43% of the book market. Mostly because they limit what they sell.
On the one hand, yay, erotica books are being sold at closer to the cover price, so increased royalty checks for the authors. On the other hand, boo, that’s a lot of people not being exposed to your books.
Thanks for the info
by Karen February 23rd, 2006 at 12:24 pmwhy won’t Walmart sell erotica? it’s just as easy for a young person to buy/read an erotica novel in B&N, Borders, etc :scratch:
honestly I don’t remember ever buying a book at Walmart. I do remember buying lots of magazines from them lol
by Mailyn February 23rd, 2006 at 12:38 pmAnd that is why I quit worrying about Amazon numbers a LONG time ago!!
by Alison February 23rd, 2006 at 8:26 pmOne more reason not to like Walmart . . .
But what’s wrong with kissing fish, I ask you? Walmart should be all over that one!
by Alyssa February 23rd, 2006 at 10:01 pmWal-Mart has one large group of investors that’s socially conservative (I think it’s called the Timothy Group), and they tend to limit what books they stock as a result. I think they’ve loosened up a bit lately, as I’ve seen Blazes there recently. But I’ve never seen a Brava in my local Wal-Mart; in fact, I’ve never seen any trade paperback romances there. My Target carries a lot of trade paperback chick lit, but again, no Brava. I don’t know that my local stores mirror nationwide distribution trends, but if they do, it’s possible this reflects a publisher distribution issue rather than the stores’ attitude toward erotic romance.
by Ellen Fisher February 24th, 2006 at 6:19 amAh…but did you know Bad Boys Ahoy! is at Walmart.com?
Ellen, my Walmart has always had Blazes. That’s usually why I get them there.
What my walmart, and the others I have been to, don’t stock is many trade size titles.
by NIcole February 27th, 2006 at 7:36 am