'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' Is All-Time Top Seller On Kindle

NEW YORK — It's electronic milestone time for Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy.

The late Swedish author's blockbuster thrillers have sold more than 1 million copies in the e-book editions, publisher Alfred A. Knopf said Wednesday, making him at least the second author to join the e-million club. The ultra-prolific James Patterson also has more than 1 million e-book sales.

Amazon.com, the biggest player in the growing e-book market, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Larsson's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," the first book in the Millennium trilogy, is the all-time top seller on the e-book reading device the Kindle. Kathryn Stockett's novel "The Help" is No. 2.

Knopf lauded the sales of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," about a journalist and a tattooed investigator trying to solve a decades-old disappearance.

"We are witnessing record-breaking sales for `The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' in trade and mass market paperback as well as in audio, so it is not surprising that this trend is being mirrored with e-books," Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards said.

"Dragon Tattoo" has sold 500,000 e-books, Bogaards said. Sales for the trilogy in all editions top 30 million worldwide; in the U.S. alone, more than 400,000 copies are selling each week.

Bogaards also backed up a report earlier this week by Amazon that said the Internet retail giant was selling more e-books than hardcovers. Kindle sales for the most recent Larsson book, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest," have topped those for the hardcover, said Bogaards, who added that he did not think hardcover sales had been hurt by the less expensive e-edition.

Larsson does not top every list. A spokesman for Sony's e-book reading device, the Sony Reader, said Wednesday that "Dragon Tattoo" was the e-device's No. 2 all-time seller, trailing Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol." Patterson's "Alex Cross" is No. 3.

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Alfred A. Knopf is a unit of Bertelsmann AG's Random House Inc.

Comments

[Trillian4210]

02:08 PM on 07/24/2010

I don't get the thrill of these books. I read the first two and don't feel like buying the third. They are page-turne­rs, I'll give them that, but I thought the characteri­zations were weak and some plot developmen­ts (specifica­lly sexual relationsh­ips) didn't feel authentic.

IDK, not thrilled, as I said.

[CheechandBruno]

02:13 PM on 07/22/2010

I have this at home in paperback.­. it sounds like a serious even semi boring story, but I guess it must be good if people are going crazy for it..

[Darwin48]

07:39 AM on 07/23/2010

popular is not equal to good.

[CheechandBruno]

09:16 AM on 07/23/2010

I know :) but I want to read it since the movie will be made, and I always read the book before the movie comes out..

[Trillian4210]

02:08 PM on 07/24/2010

Agreed

[BebeLush]

11:04 AM on 07/22/2010

Of course it is. Go, Lisbeth!!!­!!!

[Biological]

11:02 AM on 07/22/2010

I loved the book. I had heard it rambled a bit in the beginning but it came together later, which it did. I bought a Nook recently, and through the Nook I found this book. Excellent story.

[JoJoRae]

12:20 AM on 07/23/2010

I loved the movie so i got the book and am only in the fourth chapter and it is a real slow start. I have not read anymore for about a week but with your encouragin­g words I will keep reading. If you don't mind reading subtitles check out the movie, the second one will be out soon.

[Aramek]

10:43 AM on 07/22/2010

Sometimes I wish I wasn't completely illiterate­.

[niceguysneverfinish]

10:49 AM on 07/22/2010

me to!

just kidding!

:)

[usamade]

10:26 AM on 07/22/2010

I got this book for Mothers Day. Am I the only one in the world who can't get through it? I gave up on it on page 200. Does this book ever bring the characters together and if so, when?

[niceguysneverfinish]

10:51 AM on 07/22/2010

No you sure aren't the only one, I didn't care for it much. It isn't that well wrote actually. You do have to be careful about what America makes its so called 'best sellers' such books are popular money makers but the real reading is usually way, way undergroun­d. People after all like easy things!

[Paros]

10:55 AM on 07/22/2010

"that well wrote" might give a clue as to why you found it too difficult.

[MikeyMike]

04:27 PM on 07/22/2010

Yes, it does ramble for quite a while, but it does come together. Persist, unless you hate mysteries, if so do not bother. Life's too short.