We noted last month the amazing reviews stacking up for The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. Two weeks ago, The Wall Street Journal declared it a hit. And the accolades keep coming. Laura Miller, in Friday’s Salon, called it “well-positioned to step into the niche pioneered by Cold Mountain: the chewy yet suspenseful literary bestseller.”

Yesterday’s USA Today celebrates its success, with both a story and an interview with the author. While the WSJ story credits Amazon with making the book happen, USA Today sees a combination of breathless reviews and a blurb from chief fan Stephen King as the mothers of its success.

The first printing was 26,000 copies; USA Today says it is now up to 170,000.

The book rose to #2 on Amazon on Sunday (probably as a result of customers seeing its rise on print bestseller lists). It remained in that position through Monday is now at #4. It’s been on the New York Times list for two weeks, rising from #14 to #9. It’s #2 on the Denver Post list (the author lives in Colorado, although the book is set in his home state of Wisconsin).

Note there is an audio version; none of the libraries I checked have it on order yet.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

David Wroblewski

• Hardcover: $25.95
• Publisher: Ecco (June 10, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0061374229
• ISBN-13: 9780061374227

• Audio CD: Unabridged
• Publisher: Recorded Books
• ISBN-13: 9781436149587

• Large Print Paperback: $25.95
• Publisher: HarperLuxe; (August 19, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0061691623
• ISBN-13: 978-0061691621

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 12:10 pm and is filed under Bestsellers, Literary, Spring/Summer '08 titles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.