The publication of Solo last week managed to get plenty of press coverage, but figures released by trade publication The Bookseller show that the 8,692 copies of Solo sold in its first week were 48 percent down on the previous Bond novel, Jeffrey Deaver’s Carte Blanche (2011). However, that is still a personal best for William Boyd.
On the other hand, Sebastian Faulks’ 2008 novel written in the style of Ian Fleming and released to coincide with the centenary of Bond’s creator, Devil May Care, sold 44,094 copies in just four days.
The news prompted some discussion on Twitter:
@007dossier Just wondering out loud — is there really that much of a market anymore for a literary 007?
— The HMSS Weblog (@HMSSweblog) October 2, 2013
However, there appears to be soomething missing from the reported data; the figures appear to be for hardback copies only, with no indication of how many Kindle and other ebook format copies were sold. The number of Kindle ebooks in particular should have made a dramatic impact on the figure compared with 2011.
Devil May Care almost certainly benefitted from the Fleming centenary as well as coinciding with the release of a Bond film – Quantum of Solace – later that year, but big book launches like this are expensive and it remains to be seen whether they really benefit Ian Fleming Publications, or whether they should face the reality that long gone are the days that 007 was a literary phenomenon.
What do you think? Please leave a comment below.
Source: The Independent
October 4th, 2013 at 04:24
I seriously considered ordering the UK edition of SOLO but held off as the US edition will be out next week and is far more affordable to for American readers.
I look forward to every new Bond novel and enjoyed DEVIL MAY CARE a great deal. The Deaver book was okay but it didn’t have the Bond spirit that the Faulks novel had.
For my money my favorite follow up author for the James Bond books was John Gardner. I did like the Raymond Benson books as well.
Randy
November 5th, 2013 at 20:46
TO BE HONEST, I AM THOROUGHLY ENJOYING THIS BOOK. IT SEEMS PEOPLE ALL WANT TO BE CRITICS AND JUST CAN’T JUST SIT DOWN AND ENJOY A REALLY GOOD NOVEL ANYMORE.