Possible WTFckery? A 2,200, 33 page "scene" is now a New York Times best seller

I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, but it should come as no surprise that for the 11th week in a row, Fifty Shades of Grey is #1 on the New York Times combined fiction and ebook with Darker and Freed following at #2 and #3. What may come as a shocker is that James Patterson, who only has to blink and has a best selling book, usually at #1, didn't unseat Fifty Shades with his first week on the list with 11th Hour.

Fifty Shades 11 weeks at #1, Patterson's book is 11th Hour. Har har. But James is at #1 in hardcover so no tears for him.

One of the many reasons no book can push Fifty Shades of Grey out of the #1 spot from best e-book and best selling trade mass-market, which if you combine those two creates the combine list, is that Fifty is selling hundreds of thousands of books, as well as Darker and Freed.

This article from Publisher Weekly puts many things into perspective, and how because of Mother's Day, Fifty's sales shot through the roof by 40%. Fifty Shades is the perfect Mother's Day gift? Book stores and the like, including the public at large thinks so. Wait until you see these sale numbers.1.5 million copies of the Fifty Shades trilogy was sold in one week:

"According to BookScan, sales of Fifty Shades of Grey jumped 40% in the week before Mother’s Day compared to the earlier week, selling almost 443,000 copies, pushing total sales to about 1.5 million at outlets tracked by BookScan. Sales of the second title, Fifty Shades Darker, increased 30% over the prior week, with the book selling about 210,000 copies for a total of approximately 682,000 trade paperback copies. Fifty Shades Freed almost kept pace with Darker, as its sales rose 29% in Mother’s Day week over the previous week, selling 180,000 copies."

I wonder what type of present people will get their fathers for Father's Day?

Total massive WTFckery based on small page number: Even with very bad reviews, which seems to be the norm when Laurell K. Hamilton publishes an Anita Blake book, she's at the #22 spot in the combined list and #14 in the book list with Beauty, a 2,200 word, 33 page ebook priced at $2.99 that from the blurb and again from the reviews, is one big smut fest. 

Synopsis: With a vampire like Jean Claude around, it’s far too easy for Anita Blake to doubt her own appearance—and the hold it has on those who love her. But one hot tub and two incredibly sexy men—Jean Claude and Asher—will make her feel like the most lusted-after woman alive…or undead. Not bad for a mere human…

Beauty charting on the New York Times best seller list is wrong, wrong wrong. It's not a "book" and is a deleted scene. WTF? Am I missing something here? Now scenes from books can be "best sellers"? Shouldn't there be a certain page length of a book to chart on the New York Times? Billboard won't chart any albums unless they're priced accordingly because of what Lady Gaga did last year with the release of Born this Way and pricing it at .99 cents on Amazon. Should the same go for the New York Times when dealing with certain books and their word counts and page lengths for adult reads? Any thoughts?

The top 4 spots in the ebook list is identical to the combined list.

Jamie McGuire is moving up the ebook list with Beautiful Disaster now at #25 and Sylvia Day is at #28 with Bared to You. E.L. James better watch out because Bared to You, the very similar Fifty Shades of Grey read, including the next 2 books in this series was sold to Berkley. Wow, that was fast!

Berkley's new cover. Looks familiar to another uber best selling book's understated cover?

From Heartbeakers and Heroes:

"Berkley has just announced it will be publishing Bared to You, “releasing a slightly revised eBook edition, complete with brand-new cover art.... The following month Berkley will publish a trade paperback edition of the book.”

To the USA Today's charting topping books of the week!

The Fifty Shades trilogy holds the top 3 spots with The Hunger Games trilogy following. Same old, same old.

Big time Young Adult author who has her own roots in the fan fiction community (including some controversy because of that) is at #8 for the first week with City of Lost Souls, the fifth book in Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunter series.

Notable mention just because it has a puppy on the cover and is about a dog: A Dog's Journey by W. Bruce Cameron is at #79.

Synopsis: Direct sequel to the New York Times and USA Today bestselling A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

Buddy is a good dog.

After searching for his purpose through several eventful lives, Buddy is sure that he has found and fulfilled it. Yet as he watches curious baby Clarity get into dangerous mischief, he is certain that this little girl is very much in need of a dog of her own.

When Buddy is reborn, he realizes that he has a new destiny. He's overjoyed when he is adopted by Clarity, now a vibrant but troubled teenager. When they are suddenly separated, Buddy despairs—who will take care of his girl?

I may have to check out Cameron's other books, especially when I see something like this:

 
Synopsis:  After 13-year-old Charlie Hall’s mother dies and his father retreats into the silence of grief, Charlie finds himself drifting lost and alone through the brutal halls of junior high school.


But Charlie Hall is not entirely friendless. In the woods behind his house, Charlie is saved from a mountain lion by a grizzly bear, thought to be extinct in northern Idaho.

And this very unusual bear will change Charlie’s life forever.

I hope you have enjoyed this overview of the charting top books for the week.