“Going beyond the usual bestseller lists to identify sales opportunities for local booksellers”
The Panorama Project is pleased to announce the latest Panorama Picks which showcase recent fiction, nonfiction, and young adult titles with the highest unmet demand in US public libraries. The nine regional lists feature 25 titles in each category—185 titles in total, including 72 of which are unique to a single region (29 Adult Fiction, 27 Adult Non-Fiction, 16 Young Adult)—reflecting both the overlapping and distinctive interests of readers from across the country.
Panorama Picks are unique from other lists in that they are derived from anonymized hold list data for e-books from public libraries throughout the United States. The resulting lists of recently published titles have notably longer wait times for local library patrons and this unmet demand represents sales potential for booksellers as well as opportunities for author events, read-alikes, and special promotions.
The new lists measure public library activity from July through September 2020 and feature books published from July 2019 through March 2020.
Among titles with notable unmet demand in a single region were A Heart of Blood & Ashes by Milla Vane, The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste, The Deep by Rivers Solomon, The Arrangement by Sylvia Day, Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson, Wilmington’s Life by David Zucchino, The Inflamation Spectrum by Will Cole, A Pilgrimage to Eternity by Timothy Egan, The Warrior’s Curse by Jennifer A. Nielsen, In Real Life by Cory Doctorow, Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang and Color Me In by Natasha Diaz.
Titles that were popular in multiple regions but had limited availability in public libraries which therefore could not meet demand include The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow, The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune, The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare, The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin, Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, Tough Love by Susan Rice, The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger, Mythos by Stephen Fry, Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong, Tweet Cute by Emma Lord, The Upside of Falling by Alex Light, and The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller.
Noted Daniel Albohn, Panorama’s Project Lead, “We compile and publish Panorama Picks on a quarterly basis and we endeavor to promote our findings to local booksellers as well as to publishers and authors. I welcome comments and recommendations on how we can improve this initiative for the benefit of all.”