PW Analyzes Bestseller Lists By Publisher

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January 15-31, 2005 Edition

PW Analyzes

Bestseller Lists

By Publisher

NEW YORK, NY/01/06/05—Publishers Weekly this week will release its annual bestseller analysis of popular books and the houses that published them. In a preview of the report, PW showed the following results: Random House with 75 hardcover bestsellers Penguin with 49 Simon & Schuster with 36.

Random House had a 28 percent share of the bestseller lists for all weeks in 2004 combined, unchanged from its ranking last year, PW said. Simon & Schuster increased five percent from last year to a 15 percent share of books on the bestseller lists for more than six weeks.

Warner and Harpercollins were the only two publishers which had more than two imprints with ten or more hardcover bestsellers:

Warner’s Little Brown and Warner Books had a total of 25 bestsellers on the lists for nearly six weeks per book.

Morrow and HarperCollins had 24 titles on the lists, and averaged a ranking for four weeks per book.

Doubleday had the greatest staying power, with eight titles remaining on the lists for a mean of 12 weeks. Atria stayed on the list for nine weeks, and Hyperion, with only four bestsellers, ranked for an average of 15 weeks on the lists.

Among paperback bestsellers, shares for both Random House and HarperCollins fell by about 8 percent, according to PW. Penguin gained 4 percent of the share, and ranked second behind Random House with 51 titles on the lists.