In a sign that the holiday shopping season was already getting underway the week before Black Friday, familiar best-sellers made renewed appearances on the Ebook Best-Seller List as the average price of a best-selling ebook dipped considerably, from $7.21 to $5.68.
Some of 2014’s heavy-hitters, like John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars and Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander, slipped off the list many weeks ago. But both of those titles make a comeback as readers get into holiday shopping mode and publishers encourage them by pushing their most successful titles.
Green’s and Gabaldon’s ebooks are both priced at a bargain $2.99 apiece.
In its agreement last month with Amazon, Hachette regained the right to set its own ebook prices, with the e-tailer offering incentives to keep them low. While it’s impossible to know just how much the new deal is impacting Hachette’s pricing strategy, the publisher’s best-selling titles did gain a bit of ground last week overall.
None of the five Hachette ebooks that made the top 25 last week are priced any lower this week, but Hachette hangs onto that five-book total and widens its share of the top ten by one.
Top 25 Ebook Best-Sellers
Week Ending 11/29/14
| Rank* | Title | Author | Publisher | Price** | Change |
| 1 (2) | Gone Girl: A Novel | Gillian Flynn | Penguin Random House | $ 2.99 | +1 |
| 2 (4) | Gray Mountain: A Novel | John Grisham | Penguin Random House | $ 3.25 | +2 |
| 3 (14) | Hope to Die (Alex Cross Book 22) | James Patterson | Hachette | $ 9.99 | +11 |
| 4 (7) | Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption | Laura Hillenbrand | Penguin Random House | $ 2.99 | +3 |
| 5 (3) | The Burning Room (A Harry Bosch Novel Book 19) | Michael Connelly | Hachette | $ 3.99 | +2 |
| 6 (5) | The Escape (John Puller Book 3) | David Baldacci | Hachette | $ 10.99 | -1 |
| 7 (1) | Captivated by You (Crossfire Book 4) | Sylvia Day | Penguin Random House | $ 7.99 | -6 |
| 8 (17) | Big Little Lies | Liane Moriarty | Penguin Random House | $ 3.99 | +9 |
| 9 (8) | All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel | Anthony Doerr | Simon & Schuster | $ 6.99 | -1 |
| 10 (n/a) | Dark Places: A Novel | Gillian Flynn | Penguin Random House | $ 2.99 | New |
| 11 (n/a) | The Last Anniversary | Liane Moriarty | HarperCollins | $ 1.99 | New |
| 12 (6) | Revival: A Novel | Stephen King | Simon & Schuster | $ 12.74 | -6 |
| 13 (11) | Blood Magick (Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy Book 3) | Nora Roberts | Penguin Random House | $ 2.50 | -2 |
| 14 (23) | Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II’s Most Audacious General | Bill O’Reilly; Martin Dugard | Macmillan | $ 3.25 | +9 |
| 15 (9) | Leaving Time: A Novel | Jodi Picoult | Penguin Random House | $ 10.99 | -6 |
| 16 (n/a) | Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail | Cheryl Strayed | Penguin Random House | $ 2.99 | New |
| 17 (n/a) | Personal: A Jack Reacher Novel | Lee Child | Penguin Random House | $ 3.25 | New |
| 18 (10) | Flesh and Blood (Scarpetta Series Book 22) | Patricia Cornwell | HarperCollins | $ 12.99 | -8 |
| 19 (19) | Blue Labyrinth (Agent Pendergast Series) | Douglas Preston; Lincoln Child | Hachette | $ 9.99 | – |
| 20 (n/a) | The Fault in Our Stars | John Green | Penguin Random House | $ 2.99 | New |
| 21 (n/a) | The Cinderella Murder: An Under Suspicion Novel | Mary Higgins Clark; Alafair Burke | Simon & Schuster | $ 10.99 | New |
| 22 (12) | Ice Cold: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel | Tess Gerritsen | Penguin Random House | $ 1.99 | -10 |
| 23 (n/a) | Outlander: A Novel | Diana Gabaldon | Penguin Random House | $ 2.99 | New |
| 24 (n/a) | Me Before You: A Novel | Jojo Moyes | Penguin Random House | $ 2.99 | New |
| 25 (n/a) | Mean Streak | Sandra Brown | Hachette | $ 3.25 | New |
* Previous week’s list rank in parentheses.
** Price reflects minimum price across all retailers throughout the week. Price may vary between retailers and may change throughout the week.
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