# Books that sold way more copies than you would have thought **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 3, 2013, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522 "2013-07-03T11:41:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/21 "2013-07-03T19:53:08Z")
I think Max Brooks’ _World War Z_ was a surprise. Its publishers probably saw it as another zombie novel in a crowded genre and expected it might sell about as many copies as Brooks’ previous book, _The Zombie Survival Guide_. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/22 "2013-07-03T19:56:19Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think Max Brooks’ _World War Z_ was a surprise. Its publishers probably saw it as another zombie novel in a crowded genre and expected it might sell about as many copies as Brooks’ previous book, _The Zombie Survival Guide_. Probably not even that as it wasn’t “another zombie novel in a crowded genre.” The only “zombie novels” back when World War Z was published were decades-old knockoffs of [Night of the Living Dead](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Dead#Books). ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/23 "2013-07-03T20:00:58Z")
Whoever told Sue Grafton she coud write was demented. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/24 "2013-07-03T20:10:09Z")
I tried to read a couple James Patterson books back in the day. Damn he is a bad bad writer. Unreadably bad. I, um, like Sue Grafton. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/25 "2013-07-03T20:37:06Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Whoever told Sue Grafton she coud write was demented. I have to disagree. She’s not a great writer, but she’s certainly competent, and the opening of A is for Alibi is just wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/26 "2013-07-03T21:15:22Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Rebecca Skloot’s _The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks_ must have dropped jaws all over publishing as well. This book has been on bestseller lists forever, and was still in the top ten for paperback books in the N.Y. Times listing as of last Sunday. Given how long it’s been around, I wonder how it has managed to continue to allegedly sell so many copies. Maybe there are lots of air travelers desperate for reading matter who just glom onto the first thing they see in the “top ten bestsellers” section of the airport bookstore. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/27 "2013-07-03T21:23:37Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Probably not even that as it wasn’t “another zombie novel in a crowded genre.” The only “zombie novels” back when World War Z was published were decades-old knockoffs of [Night of the Living Dead](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Dead#Books). No, there was an existing zombie genre in horror fiction. Stuff like Walter Greatshell’s _Xombies_, Stephen King’s _Cell_, David Moody’s _Autumn_, Brian Keene’s _The Rising_, John Lindqvist’s _Handling the Undead_, and David Wellington’s _Monster Island_ were all published in the five year period before _World War Z_. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/28 "2013-07-04T00:43:25Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > No, there was an existing zombie genre in horror fiction. Stuff like Walter Greatshell’s _Xombies_, Stephen King’s _Cell_, David Moody’s _Autumn_, Brian Keene’s _The Rising_, John Lindqvist’s _Handling the Undead_, and David Wellington’s _Monster Island_ were all published in the five year period before _World War Z_. You’re right, that’s not all there was. But it’s unlikely these books paved the way for World War Z (the success of The Zombie Survival Guide did that)… Stephen King’s _Cell_ is a book by Stephen King. The man could write about anything and it would sell. Not indicative of a genre. Especially since it references The Stand a great deal. David Moody’s _Autumn_ and John Lindqvist’s _Handling the Undead_ weren’t released in America until well after WWZ. Walter Greatshell’s _Xombies_, Brian Keene’s _The Rising_ and David Wellington’s _Monster Island_ were all very small time. None had the marketing push WWZ got with booksellers/librarians. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/29 "2013-07-04T00:44:47Z")
Seems like _Naked Came the Stranger_ warrants a mention, although its success didn’t surprise the authors. > **[Naked Came the Stranger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Came_the_Stranger)** > > Naked Came the Stranger is a 1969 novel written as a literary hoax poking fun at the American literary culture of its time. Though credited to "Penelope Ashe," it was in fact written by a group of twenty-four journalists led by Newsday columnist Mike McGrady. > McGrady's intention was to write a book that was both deliberately terrible and contained a lot of descriptions of sex, to illustrate the point that popular American literary culture had become mindlessly vulgar. The book fulfilled the au... “[The] intention was to write a deliberately terrible book with a lot of sex, to illustrate the point that popular American literary culture had become mindlessly vulgar. The book fulfilled the authors’ expectations and became a bestseller in 1969; they revealed the hoax later that year, further spurring the book’s popularity.” I’m still a bit surprised that Heinlein’s _Stranger in a Strange Land_ became influential. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/30 "2013-07-04T01:17:48Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > I’m still a bit surprised that Heinlein’s _Stranger in a Strange Land_ became influential. Yeah, I’ve never been able to grok that. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/31 "2013-07-04T01:27:35Z")
This goes back a ways, but _Life’s Little Instruction Book_ not only sold millions of copies, but launched a whole industry of spin-offs, calendars, and other related products. It’s not that it was bad, but just so uninspired. It was just a desultory list of one line bits of advice, like “Drink your milk.” “Be nice to people.” “Finish your work on time.” People just like lists I guess. In the same vein: _Chicken Soup for the Soul_. It didn’t even bring anything new to the table; it just collected a bunch of existing schmaltzy stories under one cover. The title was apparently the spark that led it to sell millions. Well, you can’t have chicken soup without schmaltz! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/32 "2013-07-04T02:31:51Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > May I ask how you are defining “bad writing”? Squiggly letters with backwards "e"s, scratched out sections and blotches of smeared ink. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/33 "2013-07-08T07:57:52Z")
_Gödel, Escher, Bach_ by Douglas Hofstadter. Back around 1980-ish, it seemed like there was no escaping this book. It won a Pulitzer and a National Book Award. Everybody I knew seemed to own a copy, and if you turned on NPR somebody would be talking about it. It was generally viewed as this incredibly cool book about how music and art and math were all the same thing, or something like that. (In Hofstadter’s defense, he has repeatedly said that the book isn’t about that at all.) I tried to read it and gave up around page 50 or so. I found it impossibly dense, pedantic, and obtuse, and marred by the author’s peculiar fixation on cutesy puns and palindromes. To this day I wonder how many people who bought it actually read it. ---
**Author:** ![Deegeea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Deegeea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deegeea)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/34 "2013-07-08T17:40:11Z")
I read Gödel, Escher, Bach in the late 1980s after being recommended it by one of my computer science professors. I still remember it vividly - it was about a specific theme (or set of themes) that ran through most of those three men’s work - symmetries, permutations, and meta-level self-description paradoxes. It’s incredibly cool to, let’s say, people who think Moebius strips and Klein bottles are incredibly cool - and in a similar way. I am also surprised it was widely popular. Actually most books that are faddishly popular, and not sequels to previously also popular or by authors who have a proven track record of that level of popularity, surprise me. It seems as though it’s partly luck in most cases. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/35 "2013-07-08T19:58:23Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I know this isn’t what the OP was looking for but I have to cast another vote of amazement that Dan Brown wrote a best-seller. I knew _The Da Vinci Code_ was popular so I decided to check it out. And I was shocked at how badly written it was. > > I’m not just talking that it isn’t a literary masterpiece. I’m saying it isn’t even up to the standards of good hack work - the level you’d expect from somebody like Clive Cussler or W.E.B. Griffin. I’m being serious when I say that the average house name series thrillers like _The Destroyer_ or _The Executioner_ are better written than _The Da Vinci Code_. I always refer to _ **The Da Vinci Code** _ as _ **Foucault’s Pendulum for Dummies** _ ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/36 "2013-07-08T19:59:10Z")
Uncle John’s Bathroom Book. It’s completely mystifying that American felt so drawn to a collection of short stories that you can read on the toilet. It’s been so popular that it has copycats and spin offs. crazy. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/37 "2013-07-08T20:50:43Z")
“Valley of the Dolls”, sold extremely well and was a poorly written piece of schlock. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/38 "2013-07-08T21:43:54Z")
The one that most blows my mind is my own _Who Pooped in the Park?_ kids’ series. It was just a little fun side project and I NEVER expected to sell so many (almost 400,000 copies so far). That’s about 1,000 times as much as any of my “serious” books. It feels very strange. > [@andrew\_1](#): > > For the record, my interest in this sparked after reading Ian Spector’s series of Chuck Norris factbooks [which as of November 2012](http://www.makealivingwriting.com/2012/11/26/learn-writers-creation-ny-times-bestseller/) had sold 800,000 copies. Just for the record, there’s a big difference between “800,000 copies in print” and “800,000 sold.” Your link says the latter. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > Note that bad writing does not mean it’s automatically a bad book. The quality of writing is just one factor in the quality of the book, and probably not even the most important ones (the characterization and plot are really what most people pay attention to). In my humble opinion, this is why Dan Brown hit the bestseller lists with _The Da Vinci Code_. I don’t think anyone in the field would call it good writing, but he has a way of gripping readers with his storytelling. It also didn’t hurt that the book hit the market with a very controversial topic at just the right time. Even the Purdue lawsuit and the Baigent & Leigh lawsuit only managed to get more press (and probably more sales) for the book. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/39 "2013-07-08T22:56:34Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:38, topic:662522”] Just for the record, there’s a big difference between “800,000 copies in print” and “800,000 sold.” Your link says the latter. [/QUOTE] I believe you mean the former. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522/40 "2013-07-08T23:16:13Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Sorry. The minute I saw that title, I had to have it. Yes, I’m geeky, but it has HUGE human interest, so I’m not at all surprised by the popularity. > > Now, I’d have understood if _ **Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers** _, by Mary Roach, hadn’t made the best seller list. I’d have bought it if the library hadn’t had an audio version, but I’d have understood. Damn, she’s a good writer. Mary Roach was the “In Depth” subject yesterday on C-SPAN 2’s “About Books”. It’s a 3-hour interview, and I definitely Tivo’d it. Haven’t watched it yet, however. How about “A Million Little Pieces”? IDK about anyone else, but I read it after he was exposed as a fraud, and would have recognized it as fiction on the very first page. And folks, “Watership Down” is a story about rabbits. Sorry, but it is. I did enjoy the movie, however, and recognized it as an allegory of the Soviet takeover of East Germany. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-sold-way-more-copies-than-you-would-have-thought/662522.md?page=3)