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Q: Agatha Christie ( Answered 4 out of 5 stars,   1 Comment )
Question  
Subject: Agatha Christie
Category: Arts and Entertainment > Books and Literature
Asked by: blake1971-ga
List Price: $10.00
Posted: 07 May 2004 13:32 PDT
Expires: 06 Jun 2004 13:32 PDT
Question ID: 342890
I need to do research on book sales of a particular author.  Is there
any database on the internet with that information?  Or do you
recommend a book of some sort for purchase?  This author has been dead
since 1977 (I think) and has 103 books to her credit, she has been
published since 1920.  Any recommendations?  (My next step is the
film/TV adaptions, those sales, any advice there?)
Answer  
Subject: Re: Agatha Christie
Answered By: pinkfreud-ga on 07 May 2004 14:48 PDT
Rated:4 out of 5 stars
 
According to the official Agatha Christie website, more than 2 billion
copies of Dame Agatha's books have been sold:

"Agatha Christie is the world's best-known mystery writer. Her books
have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another
billion in over 45 foreign languages. She is outsold only by the Bible
and Shakespeare."

AgathaChristie.com: Essentials
http://www.agathachristie.com/essentials/bio.shtml

Confirmation of that figure is widely available on the Web. Here's
another citation:

"While J. K. Rowling still trails detective story author Agatha
Christie?s overall sales of 2 billion books, and romantic novelist
Dame Barbara Cartland?s lifetime sales of 670 million, it is the speed
of her sales, and more importantly how much money she has already
extracted from her success that puts her in a league of her own."

MSN Money (UK): Harry Potter and the Lake of Cash
http://money.msn.co.uk/investing/Insight/SpecialFeatures/ActiveInvestor/HarryPotterMoneybags/default.asp

It would be wonderful if a comprehensive database of all book sales
existed on the Internet, but unfortunately the data are fragmented and
scattered, and no single, central source has access to the info that
would be necessary to prepare and maintain such a database. However,
there are ways to obtain some useful data regarding book sales. The
material gathered by my friend and Google Answers colleague bobbie7 in
answer to this earlier question may be of interest to you:

Google Answers: Book sales
http://www.answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=214173

Finding even a rough estimate of the number of Christie's film and
television adaptations that have been sold in the video market is
likely to be an agonizing task. Here's a good list of film titles, but
tracking down the sales figures for each of these and adding the total
would take a very long time:

AgathaChristie.com: Movies: The Collection
http://www.agathachristie.com/tv/movies_alpha.shtml

In addition to the full-length movies, the TV series "Poirot," "Tommy
and Tuppence, Partners in Crime" and "The Miss Marple Mysteries" have
been packaged and sold as video collections.

Google Web Search: "agatha christie" + "billion" + "books"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22agatha+christie%22+billion+books

I hope this helps! If anything is unclear, or if a link doesn't work
for you, please request clarification; I'll gladly offer further
assistance before you rate my answer.

Best regards,
pinkfreud
blake1971-ga rated this answer:4 out of 5 stars and gave an additional tip of: $5.00
It seems I am asking the impossible question, for the generalized
statements are not helpful to me for my specific need.  I will try and
use some of your advice, but again, I require long term historical
data.  Seems impossible, but thanks for your work on this matter.  I
guess I cannot afford a higher bid.

Comments  
Subject: Re: Agatha Christie
From: pinkfreud-ga on 10 May 2004 09:34 PDT
 
Thank you for the tip.

~Pinkfreud

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