News & Trends: Fast Stats

41%
Percentage of items purchased worldwide over the Internet in the past three months that were books, making books the most popular online purchase. In the United States alone, books were the second-most popular purchase (38 percent) behind clothing, accessories and shoes (41 percent). Source: Nielsen Global Online Survey, January 2008

5
Number of Top 10 best-selling novels in Japan in 2007 that originated as cell-phone novels and were later republished in book form. Usually love stories written in short, text-message-like sentences, cell-phone novels are originally composed and shared with fans via cell phones. The top three best-selling novels were written by first-time, cell-phone novelists. Source: International Herald Tribune, Jan. 21, 2008

$6 million
Value of the deal HarperCollins negotiated for the British rights to pop star George Michael’s upcoming memoir (scheduled to be released in the fall of 2009). The deal is among the biggest publishing contracts ever for the British market, and is said to be worth at least $7 million overall. Source: Associated Press, Jan. 17, 2008

115
Number of new, independent bookstores that opened in 2007, marking the third year in a row that the number of bookstore openings topped 100. The new bookstores are spread across 35 states. The largest number of openings was in California, with 17, followed by New York (eight) and Georgia (seven). Source: American Booksellers Association