E-sales big for Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy

[July 22, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- 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.

[Associated Press; By HILLEL ITALIE]

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