Jada Pinkett Smith’s recent memoir, “Worthy,” has generated significant buzz with its revelation of a seven-year separation from her husband, Will Smith, and a multitude of other personal insights. Despite this attention, the book appears to be experiencing a mixed performance on major bestseller lists.
The 52-year-old actress released “Worthy” on October 17, initially achieving a noteworthy accomplishment by securing the third position on Amazon’s “Top 20 most sold & most read books of the week” for October 22. In this ranking, she trailed behind the high-profile memoir “The Woman In Me” by Britney Spears and “Killers Of The Flower Moon” by David Grann, which regained popularity due to the upcoming Martin Scorsese film adaptation featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.
However, it’s a different story on Amazon’s primary bestsellers list, where “Worthy” had descended to a less impressive 81st place by Tuesday, as reported by Newsweek. This downward trend continued, as the book slipped further to number 84 by Wednesday evening.
Notably, the main bestsellers chart on Amazon primarily focuses on sales figures, while Jada Pinkett Smith’s memoir managed to secure a top-three spot on the online retailer’s charts, which account for both sales and the number of Kindle readers and Audible listeners engaging with the book. This suggests that while many were interested in her memoir, not all opted to purchase it.
Another aspect of the book’s performance can be observed in the limited number of reviews left on Amazon. As of Wednesday, only 148 readers had rated “Worthy,” compared to the 1,043 reviews Britney Spears’ memoir garnered, despite being released more recently.
Surprisingly, “Worthy” was absent from Amazon’s list of the top 100 best-selling Kindle books. However, it did manage to top the specialty list of “Women’s Biographies.” On the other hand, it failed to secure a spot in Publishers Weekly’s top 25 overall bestsellers or its top 10 nonfiction bestsellers list.
Barnes & Noble’s bestseller list also lacked an entry for Worthy in its top 100, although John Stamos, whose book was released after Jada’s, managed to secure a spot in the 30s with his memoir.
Despite its mixed performance on various bestseller lists, it appears that Jada Pinkett Smith doesn’t need to be overly concerned about her book’s sales. Worthy still holds a prominent place on the highly esteemed New York Times’ bestseller list. The New York Times ranks Worthy at number four in its list of combined print and e-book bestsellers, with the book claiming the third-most popular nonfiction book when considering physical hardcover sales.
It’s important to note that The New York Times’ bestseller list aims to ensure that it’s not influenced by bulk purchases, making it a respected and sought-after ranking among authors and publishers. So, despite its varied performance on other platforms, “Worthy” remains a notable success on one of the most prestigious bestseller charts.
Follow “Jada Pinkett Smith”
Written by
Derek Chan – Editor
