Random's Cornerstone is king of the paperback 'giants'

11.01.10 Philip Jones in The Bookseller

Random House's division Cornerstone is the paperbacks giant in 2010 with 51 of its forthcoming titles selected for inclusion in The Bookseller's Paperback Preview, including 24 "giants", and seven "bestsellers". The publisher, which includes Preface, has nine more giants that its nearest competitor Penguin, though Penguin has more titles selected as "bestsellers" and in the "bubbling under" category.

Foyles' Jonathan Ruppin, who compiled the annual industry listing (available online here), said the number of title submitted had been the fewest since he took over the preview at the end of 2007, reflecting a year of trimmed lists. "Conversely, it has never been hard to make my selection," he added. "The result of this streamlining process is an overall uplift in quality and more focused marketing support."

In total 118 paperbacks were selected as "giants"—meaning the book is likely to sell more than 150,000 copies or more—including Sophie Kinsella's Twenties Girl (Black Swan, 21st January), Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall (HarperCollins, 4th March), Ian Rankin's The Complaints (Orion, 5th August), and Jeffrey Archer's And Thereby Hangs a Tale (Pan, 5th November)

Of the big groups Random House has 40 "giants", Hachette 39 and HarperCollins 10. Hachette looks to be the leading paperbacks publisher in 2010, however, with more "bubbling under" titles selected that either Random or HarperCollins. In total Hachette has 144 titles selected, compared with 145 from Random and 59 from HarperCollins.

Independent publishers with "giants" were Bloomsbury (William Boyd's Ordinary Thunderstorms, 7th June), Quercus (Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, 1st April), and Atlantic (Aravind Adiga, Between the Assassinations, 1st April).

Paperback Preview: Less is more