'Solo' novel sells under 9,000 copies in first week of sale

02-Oct-2013 • Literary

The new James Bond continuation novel 'Solo' by William Boyd may have taken media coverage by storm over the past week in the UK, but that attention did not seem to convert in to sales.

According to figures released by trade blog The Bookseller, 'Solo' sold just 8,692 copies across all print editions (8,478 were in hardback).

That is 48% down on Jeffery Deaver's 'Carte Blanche', and 82% down on Sebastian Faulks' 'Devil May Care' (which no doubt benefited from the Ian Fleming centenary hubbub).

Although the figures may be disappointing for Ian Fleming Publications, they will be a boon for Boyd as they smashed his previous first week record in the hardback format (previously 5,743 for 'Waiting for Sunrise' in February last year).

'Solo' enters at #17 in the Uk top 50 books in one of the busiest publication weeks in the year. More than 300 hardback titles debuted last week, more than four times the average.

In the original fiction chart, 'Solo' comes in at #3 behind Bernard Cornwell's 'The Pagan Lord' and Stephen King's 'Doctor Sleep'.