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Review of 2007: Sales and price step up

10.01.08 Philip Stone

If 2007 could be summarised in a sentence, it would contain a trio of abbreviations: R&J, JK and TV. In a record-breaking year for the British book trade, which saw more than £1.8bn spent on books (6.2% up on 2006) through all retail channels, 105 titles took more than £1m each through the tills and 194 titles sold more than 100,000 copies through Nielsen BookScan's TCM. Seven-and-a-half books were sold every second, at an average price of £7.57—up by 4p on 2006.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows took more than £36.5m and was worth 2% of all book sales in 2007, while the 16 titles selected in "Richard & Judy" Book Club and Summer Read strands sold almost five million  units, taking £26.8m across the year.

Hardback non-fiction performed particularly well, especially over Christmas with a number of inviting titles persuading late Christmas shoppers to shell out over £280m over four weeks in December. Half the top 16 titles were hardbacks in 2007, compared to just four in 2006 when paperback fiction dominated the charts.

It was a strong year for female authors, with Jed Rubenfeld the only male in a top eight dominated by girl power.

Fifteen titles in the top 50 owe a large part of their success to television, either through tie-in shows, such as "Doctor Who", or the presenters themselves, à la Messrs Clarkson and Hammond and a truly outstanding performance from Nigella Lawson. She sold close to 650,000 copies of Nigella Express—more than three times the total of her previous hardback, Feast.

Ten titles feature in the top 50 having appeared in either "Richard & Judy" Book Club or Summer Read, with their 2007 Read of the Year, The Interpretation of Murder, leading the field. It's the second year in a row that Hachette Livre has finished top of paperback fiction, after Kate Mosse's Labyrinth ran away with The Bookseller's “bestseller of the year” crown in 2006.

Atonement, first published in 2001, makes the top 20 while Jeremy Clarkson’s Born to be Riled, first published in 1999, narrowly misses the top 30. Clarkson appears three times with three different titles, Jamie Oliver appears twice with two, while J K Rowling appears twice with one.

It is difficult to unlock the keys to bestseller success, but based on mean and median averages within the top 50 The Bookseller can recommend the following: get a TV personality to write a story about a young wizard. Release it in paperback in June with a retail price of £7.99 but enable retailers to sell it at around £5.40 on average after submitting it, successfully, for one of the "Richard & Judy" book groups. Sell film rights and enjoy repeat success with a tie-in edition six years later.

Simple, really.



TOP 20 ORIGINAL FICTION (52 weeks ending 29th december 2007)
Sales of the adult edition of the final part in the Harry Potter heptalogy constituted more than a third of the total sales of the top 20 titles and sold at an a.s.p. 61p higher than the children’s edition.

Martina Cole, Patricia Cornwell and Maeve Binchy are all authors in the top 10 who appeared in the same chart of 2006. Cole’s Faces sold more than 200,000 copies in 2007, repeating the success of Close in 2006, while Terry Pratchett’s Making Money was the only other title to sell more than 230,000, outperforming his previous hardback, Wintersmith.

Pos / Title / Author / Publisher / RRP / ASP / Units
1 / Harry Potter and the Deathly . . . (adult) / Rowling, J K / Bloomsbury / £17.99 / £9.36 / 1,268,738
2 / Making Money / Pratchett, Terry / Doubleday / £18.99 / £11.14 / 230,246
3 / Faces / Cole, Martina / Headline / £18.99 / £10.34 / 200,353
4 / Book of the Dead / Cornwell, Patricia / Little, Brown / £18.99 / £10.30 / 195,905
5 / This Year it Will be Different / Binchy, Maeve / Orion / £17.99 / £10.84 / 172,441
6 / On Chesil Beach / McEwan, Ian / Cape / £12.99 / £10.33 / 168,481
7 / The Quest / Smith, Wilbur / Macmillan / £18.99 / £11.99 / 165,383
8 / Crystal / Price, Katie / Century / £9.99 / £6.85 / 156,603
9 / Exit Music / Rankin, Ian / Orion / £18.99 / £11.88 / 132,727
10 / The Children of Húrin / Tolkien, J R R / HarperCollins / £18.99 / £12.30 / 131,449
11 / Shopaholic and Baby / Kinsella, Sophie / Bantam / £17.99 / £11.38 / 125,698
12 / The Uncommon Reader / Bennett, Alan / Profile / £10.99 / £9.10 / 121,141
13 / Crossfire / McNab, Andy / Bantam / £18.99 / £11.22 / 102,501
14 / A Thousand Splendid Suns / Hosseini, Khaled / Bloomsbury / £16.99 / £11.74 / 94,083
15 / Sepulchre / Mosse, Kate / Orion / £18.99 / £11.57 / 93,758
16 / Double Cross / Patterson, James / Headline / £18.99 / £10.72 / 91,024
17 / Sword Song / Cornwell, Bernard / HarperCollins / £18.99 / £11.33 / 83,573
18 / World Without End / Follett, Ken / Macmillan / £20.00 / £11.95 / 80,710
19 / Bad Luck and Trouble / Child, Lee / Bantam / £14.99 / £9.85 / 75,325
20 / The Ghost / Harris, Robert / Hutchinson / £18.99 / £12.67 / 65,947
 

TOP 20 MASS MARKET FICTION (52 weeks ending 29th december 2007)
Richard and Judy’s continued influence is plain to see in the list of the mass market paperbacks of the year, with Jed Rubenfeld leading the way. Unlike 2006, it was the Summer Read unlucky loser The Memory Keeper’s Daughter that outsold the overall winner The House at Riverton, although huge success across the Atlantic and a difference in publication date was a contributing factor behind Edwards’ out-performance of Morton.

Ian McEwan joins Maeve Binchy and Ian Rankin as the only authors who appear in both fiction top 20s, thanks to rave reviews of the Oscar-tipped “Atonement” adaptation.
Kudos also goes to indie publisher Quercus which, thanks to a Costa Book of the Year win, sold almost £2m-worth of paperbacks of Stef Penny’s The Tenderness of Wolves in 2007.

Pos / Title / Author / Publisher / RRP / ASP / Units
1 / The Interpretation of Murder / Rubenfeld, Jed / Headline / £7.99 / £5.62 / 819,426
2 / The Memory Keeper’s Daughter / Edwards, Kim / Penguin / £7.99 / £5.43 / 701,576
3 / Anybody Out There? / Keyes, Marian / Penguin / £7.99 / £5.05 / 585,026
4 / The House at Riverton / Morton, Kate / Pan / £7.99    £5.20    574,363
5 / A Spot of Bother / Haddon, Mark / Vintage / £7.99 / £6.06 / 467,836
6 / Atonement / McEwan, Ian / Vintage / £7.99 / £5.42 / 413,201
7 / Half of a Yellow Sun / Ngozi Adichie, Chimamanda / HarperPerennial / £7.99 / £5.66 / 385,112
8 / Suite Française    Némirovsky, Irène / Vintage / £7.99 / £5.98 / 320,343
9 / Relentless / Kernick, Simon / Corgi / £6.99 / £5.01 / 318,599
10 / The Savage Garden / Mills, Mark / Harper / £7.99 / £5.26 / 315,519
11 / Whitethorn Woods / Binchy, Maeve / Orion / £6.99 / £4.50 / 312,445
12 / Wicked! / Cooper, Jilly / Corgi / £7.99 / £5.15 / 303,474
13 / Getting Rid of Matthew / Fallon, Jane / Penguin / £6.99 / £4.75 / 291,179
14 / The Tenderness of Wolves / Penney, Stef / Quercus / £7.99 / £5.96 / 290,116
15 / One Good Turn / Atkinson, Kate / Black Swan / £7.99 / £5.89 / 286,799
16 / Restless / Boyd, William / Bloomsbury / £7.99 / £5.75 / 273,918
17 / Break No Bones / Reichs, Kathy / Arrow / £6.99 / £4.46 / 264,128
18 / The Naming Of The Dead / Rankin, Ian / Orion / £6.99 / £4.79 / 260,259
19 / Cross / Patterson, James / Headline / £6.99 / £4.35 / 256,621
20 / The Girls / Lansens, Lori / Virago / £7.99 / £5.33 / 250,936


TOP 20 HEATSEEKERS (52 weeks ending 29th december 2007)
Despite only topping the Heatseekers chart for a single week in 2007, Will Self leads the annual 2007 listing thanks to strong, consistent sales from his disturbing vision of the future, The Book of Dave. Such consistency was also a contributing factor behind the repeat appearance of Kate Grenville’s The Secret River, which was the 2006 Heatseekers number one.

Authors that graduated from the Heatseeker lists this year to enter the top 50 include Elizabeth Gaskell, Diane Setterfield, Mitch Albom and Suzannah Dunn. The book that topped the chart for the longest in 2007—Marti Leimbach’s Daniel Isn’t Talking—just failed to make the overall top 20.

Pos / Title / Author / Publisher / RRP / ASP / Units
1 / The Book of Dave / Self, Will / Penguin / £7.99 / £6.10 / 75,663
2 / The Damned Utd / Peace, David / Faber / £7.99 / £6.35 / 69,162
3 / Secret Diary of a Demented Housewife / Greene, Niamh / Penguin / £6.99 / £4.46 / 64,351
4 / The Road / McCarthy, Cormac / Picador / £7.99 / £6.19 / 57,894
5 / The Secret River / Grenville, Kate / Canongate / £7.99 / £6.48 / 53,435
6 / Lucy in the Sky / Toon, Paige / Pocket / £6.99 / £5.09 / 52,058
7 / I Did a Bad Thing / Green, Linda / Headline Review    / £6.99 / £4.38 / 48,211
8 / Knights of the Black & White / Whyte, Jack / Harper / £6.99 / £5.22 / 47,395
9 / The X-mas Factor / Sanders, Annie / Orion / £6.99 / £4.30 / 44,937
10 / Doctor Who: Creatures and Demons / Richards, Justin / BBC / £7.99 / £6.71 / 44,621
11 / The Russian Concubine / Furnivall, Kate / Sphere / £6.99 / £5.20 / 41,959
12 / Doctor Who: The Last Dodo / Rayner, Jacqueline / BBC / £6.99 / £4.91 / 41,021
13 / Shantaram    Roberts, Gregory David    Abacus    9780349117546    Mar 05    £8.99    £8.36    40,479
14 / Wicked / Maguire, Gregory / Headline Review / £7.99 / £6.66 / 40,259
15 / Doctor Who: Wooden Heart / Day, Martin / BBC / £6.99 / £4.86 / 39,369
16 / Doctor Who: Made of Steel / Dicks, Terrance / BBC / £1.99 / £1.97 / 37,922
17 / The Alexander Cipher / Adams, Will / Harper / £6.99 / £4.39 / 37,873
18 / My Name is Red / Pamuk, Orhan / Faber / £7.99 / £6.35 / 37,239
19 / The Book Thief / Zusak, Markus / Doubleday / £10.99 / £9.20 / 36,930
20 / Teacher, Teacher! / Sheffield, Jack / Corgi / £7.99 / £6.34 / 35,193


TOP 20 HARDBACK NON-FICTION (52 wks ending 29th december 2007)
A strong year for hardback non-fiction saw three titles pass the 500,000 sales mark, compared to just one in 2006. Nigella Lawson proved herself the queen of all non-fiction, not just the cookery genre.

Not only has Nigella Express outsold all others in unit sales terms, it retailed at an a.s.p. higher than any other title in the top 20. The title took more than £8.8m through the tills in 2007, second only to Harry Potter. Meanwhile, Guinness World Records broke its own record, shifting more than 575,000 copies during the latter half of 2007, almost 100,000 more than last year’s edition.

In a chart dominated by TV personalities, Richard Hammond’s On the Edge was the other title to pass the illustrious 500,000 mark, something “Top Gear” stablemate Jeremy Clarkson has never achieved in hardback, while Russell Brand’s My Booky Wook shifted 425,000 copies in just seven weeks at the year’s end.

Pos / Title / Author / Publisher / RRP / ASP / Units
1 / Nigella Express / Lawson, Nigella / Chatto / £25.00 / £13.81 / 638,855
2 / Guinness World Records / – / Guinness / £18.00 / £9.64 / 576,643
3 / On the Edge    Hammond, Richard / Weidenfeld / £18.99 / £10.42 / 518,459
4 / Jamie at Home / Oliver, Jamie / Michael Joseph    / £25.00 / £13.55 / 456,954
5 / My Booky Wook / Brand, Russell / Hodder / £18.99 / £10.28 / 429,050
6 / Don’t Stop Me Now / Clarkson, Jeremy / Michael Joseph / £20.00 / £11.16 / 373,162
7 / Long Way Down / McGregor & Boorman / Sphere / £20.00 / £11.07 / 300,334
8 / Survivor: My Story-The Next Chapter / Osbourne, Sharon / Sphere / £18.99 / £10.71 / 247,148
9 / New Europe    Palin, Michael    Weidenfeld / £20.00 / £10.84 / 239,431
10 / Gordon Ramsay’s Fast Food / Ramsay, Gordon / Quadrille / £19.99 / £11.78 / 208,110
11 / My Manchester United Years / Charlton, Bobby / Headline / £20.00 / £11.50 / 201,607
12 / My Story / Hamilton, Lewis / HarperSport / £18.99 / £10.65 / 197,804
13 / Eric Clapton: The Autobiography / Clapton, Eric / Century / £20.00 / £11.72 / 182,880
14 / Rick Stein’s Mediterranean Escapes / Stein, Rick / BBC / £20.00 / £12.17 / 178,455
15 / The Pub Landlord’s Book of British . . . / Murray, Al / Hodder / £18.99 / £11.00 / 159,443
16 / The Secret / Byrne, Rhonda / Simon & Schuster / £12.00 / £8.76 / 157,987
17 / The Dangerous Book for Boys / Iggulden, Conn & Hal / HarperCollins / £20.00 / £12.91 / 157,385
18 / The Match! Annual / – / Boxtree / £6.99 / £4.80 / 134,296
19 / Gordon Ramsay’s Playing with Fire / Ramsay, Gordon / Harper / £18.99 / £11.55 / 133,060
20 / The Difficult Second Book / Moyles, Chris / Ebury / £17.99 / £10.80 / 130,252


TOP 20 PAPERBACK NON-FICTION (52 wks ending 29th december 2007)
If 2006 was the year of the misery memoir in paperback non-fiction, 2007 was a little more light-hearted with humourists Bill Bryson and Peter Kay appearing high in the charts. They have been split, however, by the controversial but extremely successful Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, which was released in hardback in October 2006 after his Channel 4 “The Root of All Evil?” documentary became a cult sensation two years ago.

Random House Group titles occupy the top four places overall—the publishing group’s imprints didn’t feature in the top 10 in the corresponding chart of 2006.

Pos / Title / Author / Publisher / RRP / ASP / Units
1 / The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid / Bryson, Bill / Black Swan / £7.99 / £5.43 / 444,167
2 / The God Delusion / Dawkins, Richard / Black Swan / £8.99 / £6.75 / 348,070
3 / The Sound of Laughter / Kay, Peter / Arrow / £7.99 / £5.16 / 332,506
4 / The Innocent Man / Grisham, John / Arrow / £7.99 / £5.11 / 322,250
5 / Don’t Tell Mummy / Maguire, Toni / Harper Element / £6.99 / £4.74 / 315,006
6 / Jamie’s Little Book of Big Treats / Oliver, Jamie / Penguin / £3.00 / £3.00 / 312,916
7 / Marley and Me / Grogan, John / Hodder / £7.99 / £5.06 / 303,642
8 / Born to be Riled / Clarkson, Jeremy / Penguin / £7.99 / £5.28 / 289,173
9 / And Another Thing . . . / Clarkson, Jeremy / Penguin / £7.99 / £4.70 / 288,046
10 / Humble Pie / Ramsay, Gordon / HarperCollins / £7.99 / £5.30 / 252,288
11 / Damaged    Glass, Cathy    Harper Element    9780007236367    Aug 07    £6.99    £4.37    220,759
12 / Jordan: A Whole New World / Price, Katie / Arrow / £7.99 / £5.40 / 204,602
13 / The Highway Code (2007) / – / TSO / £2.50 / £2.43 / 198,972
14 / The Highway Code (2005) / – / TSO / £1.99 / £1.96 / 170,651
15 / How to Fossilise Your Hamster / Mick O’Hare / Profile / £7.99 / £5.24 / 161,248
16 / Betrayed / Harris & Crofts / Arrow / £6.99 / £4.59 / 156,965
17 / Vulcan 607 / White, Rowland / Corgi / £6.99 / £5.14 / 150,422
18 / Please, Daddy, No / Howarth, Stuart / Harper Element / £6.99 / £4.79 / 144,825
19 / The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl / De Jour, Belle / Phoenix / £6.99 / £4.88 / 143,973
20 / Semi-detached / Jones, Griff Rhys / Penguin / £7.99 / £5.49 / 129,374


TOP 20 CHILDREN'S BOOKS (52 weeks ending 29th december 2007)
Bar the release of the paperback edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, this may well be the last time J K Rowling tops a children’s books chart—unless fans’ hopes of an eighth instalment come true. Sales of the children’s edition total more than the combined sales of the next 17 titles within the children’s charts.

Along with the annual success of annuals 2007 saw two sensational series break into the children’s chart. “High School Musical” and “In the Night Garden” tie-ins appear in the top 20 five times, ahead of numerous associated publications further down the list.

Jacqueline Wilson appears twice, but behind the latest in Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider series which moved smoothly into hardback for the first time, taking more than £1.3m through the BookScan TCM.

Pos / Title / Author / Publisher / RRP / ASP / Units
1 / Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows / Rowling, J K    Bloomsbury / £17.99 / £8.75 / 2,810,371
2 / The Doctor Who Annual / – / Penguin    / £6.99 / £4.72 / 264,949
3 / High School Musical: Book of the Film / – / Parragon / £3.99 / £3.17 / 220,381
4 / The Beano Annual / – / D C Thomson / £7.50 / £4.73 / 214,358
5 / The Girls’ Book / Foster, Juliana / Buster / £7.99 / £5.57 / 199,944
6 / High School Musical 2: Book of the Film / – / Parragon / £3.99 / £3.21 / 171,603
7 / Snakehead / Horowitz, Anthony / Walker / £12.99 / £7.88 / 166,161
8 / Kiss / Wilson, Jacqueline / Doubleday / £12.99 / £8.56 / 149,708
9 / The Golden Compass / Pullman, Philip / Scholastic / £6.99 / £5.17 / 147,729
10 / Jacky Daydream / Wilson, Jacqueline / Doubleday / £12.99 / £8.42 / 143,067
11 / The Boys’ Book / – / Buster / £7.99 / £5.41 / 140,631
12 / Horrid Henry and the Abominable Snowman / Simon, Francesca / Orion    / £4.99 / £3.95 / 133,181
13 / In the Night Garden: Little Library / – / Penguin / £3.99 / £3.43 / 130,913
14 / The Horrid Henry Annual / Simon, Francesca / Orion / £6.99 / £4.58 / 129,836
15 / High School Musical: Battle of the Bands / – / Parragon / £3.99 / £2.71 / 129,548
16 / Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince / Rowling, J K / Bloomsbury    / £7.99 / £6.81 / 128,915
17 / High School Musical: Wild Spirit / – / Parragon / £3.99 / £2.73 / 126,743
18 / Wintersmith / Pratchett, Terry / Corgi / £6.99 / £4.49 / 125,504
19 / Princess Megan and the Magical Tiara / French, Vivian / Orchard / £1.00 / £0.98 / 123,367
20 / The Bratz Annual / - / Pedigree / £7.99 / £4.65 / 117,002

 

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