Dog-Eared Books by the Numbers
Though we as a bookstore concern ourselves mostly with words, for this, the occasion of our second birthday, we thought it might be fun to explore some of the numbers that make up our bookstore and community. From our start on March 8, 2021, we have received an almost overwhelming amount of support from you all—so instead of us telling you what books you should be reading, here are the books that you are actually picking up.
First and foremost, as of this writing, Dog-Eared Books has sold a grand total of…
200, 529 books with 24, 779 unique ISBNs
And of those books, what is the best selling book in our whole store?
Best Selling Book
Selling 565 copies in the last two years is…
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
You’ll find many other familiar titles in the rest of the top five— 2nd place is The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (446 copies), 3rd is The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (323 copies), 4th is The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (297 copies), and 5th place goes to Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (295 copies).
Contemporary Romance
People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry (252 copies)
The other bestselling romance titles in the top five are 2. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (248 copies), and, delightfully, our hometown romance writer, Denise Williams takes spots 3, 4, and 5 with Do You Take This Man (233 copies), The Fastest Way to Fall (227 copies), and How to Fail at Flirting (214 copies).
Mystery/Thriller
The best-selling book in the whole store in a mystery title, so obviously it’s also the best-selling in its category. The rest of the top five are: 2. Verity by Colleen Hoover (390 copies), 3. An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten (385 copies), 4. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelades (379 copies), and 5. a favorite of Bookseller Amy, The Fourth Monkey by J. D. Barker (311 copies).
Science-Fiction/Fantasy
The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec (460 copies)
We were absolutely delighted to see Genevieve’s book at the top of our SFF section since she’s not only a dear friend but used to work at the store, too! It is followed in the top five by some other fantastic titles: 2. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (298 copies), 3. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (231 copies), 4. Dune by Frank Herbert (213 copies), and 5. The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (152 copies).
Classics
The Princess Bride by William Goldman (100 copies)
The other top classics are 2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, 3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, 4. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, and 5. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Non-fiction
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (356 copies)
The rest of non-fiction’s top 5 represent a wide variety of our different sections. Second place goes to The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones (267 copies), 3rd is The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America by Matt Kracht (262 copies), 4th is Hiking Iowa by Elizabeth Corcoran Hill (255 copies), and 5th place goes to my favorite book of all time, The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green (220 copies)
Poetry
The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman (113 copies)
Amanda Gorman holds both 1st and 2nd place with Call Us What We Carry (98 copies), Mary Oliver takes 3rd with Devotions (92 copies), Rupi Kaur grabs 4th with Home Body (90), and 5th is the joyful little volume, How to Love the World ed. by James Crews (70 copies).
Young-Adult
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera (177 copies)
Other top YA titles include 2nd place, Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows (144 copies), 3rd The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, 4th A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos (109 copies, and a personal favorite), and 5th place goes to Scythe by Neil Schusterman
Graphic Novels
Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe (97)
Young Adult Graphic Novel
Heartstopper Vol. 1 by Alice Oseman (108)
Middle Grade
Pax by Sara Pennypacker (88)
Kids Graphic Novel
Dog Man: Mothering Heights by Dav Pilkey (90 copies)
Picture Book
Cy’s Perfect Day by John Walters (221 copies)
and Amanda told me I had to mention that her favorite picture book, I Eat Poop by Mark Pett takes second place with 176 copies sold.
Board Book
Dog’s First Baby by Natalie Nelson (136 copies)
Some other interesting figures…
When Dog-Eared opened, it started with 2 book clubs, the Dog-Eared Books Official Book Club and Between the Covers. In the two years since, we’ve added 7 others! With a total of 9 book clubs, we’d like to think we have a club for every reader, and there’s likely more on the horizon.
In the latter half of 2022 we em-bark-ed on a new adventure—subscriptions boxes! We have The Dog Pack (for adult fiction) and The Puppy Pack (for picture books). Thus far, we’ve picked five books for each, and have 145 total subscribers. We plan on adding more options in the future, including a middle-grade box to start this June!
We want to thank you, our community, for making the past two years so amazing—it takes a village (or a city of tens of thousands) to make our bookstore what it is, and we look forward to many more years of serving you as your local independent bookstore.
