Skip to main content

‘Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ becomes first e-book to sell 1 million copies

the_girl_with_the_dragon_tattoo-largeThe opening book of Swedish author Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, has become what industry experts believe is the first novel to sell more than a million copies in e-book form, The New York Times reports. News of the million mark milestone comes via Knopf books, which is a subsidiary of Random House publishing.

Combined digital sales of the Millennium series, which also includes The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest, have so far reached 3 million, the publisher said. Total sales of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which includes e-books, audio books and printed copies, are maintaining an impressive steady pace of about 500,000 copies per month. Hardback covers of the book, which first went on sale in September 2008, have reached a total of about 300,000 copies.

Recommended Videos

While no other publisher claims a single title has reached the 1 million sold mark, some authors can claim more than a million copies sold — of all their works combined. Those best-selling authors include Penguin Group USA’s Nora Roberts, who has written more than 200 novels. Since 2009, every single one of her books has made The New York Times best-seller list, which has presumably helped her e-book sales significantly. Another e-book sensation is thriller author James Patterson, whose sales of Amazon Kindle e-books passed the 1 million mark in October of last year.

Authors with backing from big-name publishers aren’t the only ones reaping the benefits of e-publishing. Self-published author Amanda Hocking 26, who has released 10 titles on the Kindle, sells approximately 100,000 digital copies of her novels each month. The sales reportedly bring in about $2 million in sales each year.

The e-book boom isn’t good for everyone, however. Brick and mortar bookseller Borders was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February due to loss of business at least partially caused by Amazon sales. The company will remain open, but is reportedly shutting down about 30 percent of its retail locations.

Andrew Couts
Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…
Topics
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7: the upgrade we’ve been waiting for?
Thre Flip 7 models next to each other

I never really thought that I'd want to go down the route of owning a flip phone, ever since I swore off my Nokia in the early 2000s (you know, the one with the weird felt covering and tiny notification window).

Fast forward two decades, and I'm considering rejoining the race, thanks to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7. Coming in at $1,100, it's not cheap, but it's definitely something different compared to the world of black rectangles, and it it feels like Samsung’s Flip family has finally come of age.

Read more
I used the Galaxy Z Fold 7, here’s why I’m completely smitten
The back of the Galaxy Z Fold 7

We’ve waited several years for Samsung to join the party, but it’s finally here: Samsung has followed rivals like Oppo, OnePlus, and Honor in building a thinner, lighter, and sleeker Galaxy Z Fold 7. It’s an impressive feat of engineering and a major upgrade over previous years.

It’s easy to consider the Fold 7 nothing more than an update to the Galaxy Z Fold 6, but in many ways, it feels like a huge step forward, not just for Samsung but for all folding phones. I spent a few hours with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 in an exclusive preview, and here’s why I absolutely love what Samsung has done this year.

Read more
I tried the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 series – they’re sleek, but with a lot to prove
Watch 8 on a wrist

Trying out the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic is a tough gig - not in terms of it being a hardship to try out two high-end models, but that it's impossible to assess them with only 30 minutes’ use.

I can easily talk about the improved design and the fit of the straps etc, but the real changes are within the health ecosystem, and they'll need sustained testing to really understand if they're any good.

Read more