Dan Brown's Next Could Spark 'E-Book Revolution'

Da Vinci Code follow-up sells 1M copies in 24 hours

(NEWSER) - To the surprise of exactly no one, Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code follow-up, The Lost Symbol, is a smash hit, selling, between its hardcover and e-book editions, 1 million copies in its first day on the shelves, the New York Times reports. Amazon and Barnes & Noble both say it’s the best first day any adult fiction book has ever seen. More»

The master pulls off a DC Da Vinci Code : secrets, conspiracy, plus giant squid

(NEWSER) - Nobody can pull off Dan Brown's well-worn Da Vinci Code formula for treasure-hunt thrills anymore—except Dan Brown, Janet Maslin writes in the New York Times. Brown's new book The Lost Symbol, hitting bookstores tomorrow, "clicks even if at first it looks dangerously like a clone," packing in the "neat tricks" and "guilty pleasures" that are Brown's forte. More»

(NEWSER) - The follow-up to Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code should finally see the light of day later this year, the New York Observer reports. Publisher Doubleday says The Lost Symbol will hit shelves Sept.15, 4 years after originally hoped. The first print run will be 5 million copies, the publisher’s largest ever. “This is one of the most anticipated publications in recent history, and it was well worth the wait,” said a Doubleday exec. More»

'Basic Training' is a long-forgotten work by late author

(NEWSER) - A treat for fans of the late Kurt Vonnegut: When he was working in the PR department of GE in the 1940s, Vonnegut tried to pitch a novella called Basic Training to two of the big magazines of the day. The Saturday Evening Post and McCalls passed on it. The story sat unread for decades, but it's now available in the Amazon Kindle store for $1.99, reports the Christian Science Monitor . It's loosely based on Vonnegut's life, involving a young man who visits a relative nicknamed "the General" and gets an earful about American values. More»

For sale on Pottermore website

(NEWSER) - Finally, e-reader users can be reunited with Harry Potter. For the first time, e-books of the entire series went on sale today on the Pottermore website, with the first three books costing $7.99 apiece and the last four $9.99 each. The books are compatible with most e-readers, but the Telegraph notes that Apple didn't make a deal with the publishers. Even so, the books can be read on Apple devices because they can be imported as ePub files. More»