The biggest book release of the year isn’t a blockbuster novel or an explosive celebrity memoir. It’s concert merch.
Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour Book,” which was released on Nov. 29, sold 814,000 print copies over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend — the largest first week print sales total of 2024, according to Circana Bookscan.
The book’s huge opening week also stands out because of Swift’s unusual retail strategy: She released the book exclusively through Target, bypassing bookstores and Amazon. It went on sale in physical stores on Black Friday, and was available for purchase online from Target on November 30th.
The release is unusual in other ways. Instead of working with a major publisher, Swift self-published the book through Taylor Swift Publications. The 256-page hardcover includes more than 500 photos and reflections from Swift, and costs $39.99.
“The Eras Tour Book” ranks as the second-highest adult nonfiction release in the history of BookScan, according to a Circana representative. Swift’s first-week print sales nearly matched Barack Obama’s “A Promised Land,” which sold 816,300 print copies in its first week of sales, and put her well ahead of another blockbuster nonfiction release — Prince Harry’s “Spare,” which sold 620,600 print copies in its first week.
Swift’s decision to sell her book only at Target was a disappointment to some booksellers, who make the majority of their annual revenue from holiday sales, and were cut out of one of the year’s biggest releases.
“It’s a very unfortunate decision, because it could have been a huge deal for indie bookstores,” said Julie Ross, a Swift fan and a co-owner of Pocket Books Shop, an independent bookstore in Lancaster, Pa. “This could have been the biggest title any of us ever carried, when you think about her popularity. Instead, people are going to spend their money at Target.”
Ross, who said that Pocket Books held a Taylor Swift themed party at the store to celebrate one of her album releases, added that independent bookstores aren’t just missing out on sales for this particular title, but on potential impulse purchases that shoppers make during the holidays.
“It feels like we’re losing more than this particular sale,” Ross said.
Some Swift fans who rushed to purchase the book said on social media that they were underwhelmed, and panned the project as slapdash. Readers pointed out grammatical and spelling errors, blurry images and botched picture spreads, and some complained that they wished the book had been more thoroughly edited. A fan who had lined up at Target at 5 a.m. to buy the book said in a video on TikTok that she was blown away — by the number of grammatical mistakes. She noted that some disappointed fans are calling it “The Errors Tour Book.”
Still, the book’s production and editorial flaws are unlikely to impact sales leading up to the holidays. The initial print run is two million copies, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Self-publishing a concert book is in keeping with Swift’s other unorthodox career moves, as she has exerted an unusual degree of control over her music and performances. To regain rights to her early music catalog, she rerecorded her earlier albums and labeled them as “Taylor’s Version,” giving her full ownership of the songs. Her Eras Tour concert film was released directly through the movie theater chain AMC rather than through a distributor; the movie grossed more than $126 million globally on its opening weekend.
Swift herself has said little about the book project, apart from a post on Instagram promising that the book would capture “all the magical memories you guys brought every single night.” It got more than 3.6 million likes.
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