The Bookseller.com

18th May 2008

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Half-price Delia tops bestseller chart

19.02.08 Philip Stone

Selling 48,938 copies in just two days, Delia Smith's How to Cheat at Cooking (Ebury) has become the fifth and biggest chart-topper of 2008, and one of the fastest selling titles since records began. Based on pre-order buzz, the cook book was always going to stand a strong chance of topping the charts in the week to 16th February. But with Katie Price's latest memoir instalment Jordan: Pushed to the Limit (Century) offering strong competition, and Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Richard and Judy Book Club activity within the trade, it was a tough ask.

However, despite the title's strict embargo only being lifted on Friday, Delia's new version of her 1972 début clocked up 5,112 unit sales more than her nearest rival, Random House stablemate Price.

Both chart-topping titles sold at a little over half-price across the trade, with Smith's cookery manual selling at an average price of £10.27 (48.7% off) and Price's memoir selling at £9.84 (48.2% off). With Smith taking just over £502,454 through BookScan's Total Consumer Market alone, Ebury finished second behind Random House's CHA division in a chart of the Top 50 revenue leaders based on last week's sales. Price, Fiona Neill's The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy (Arrow) and John Grisham's The Appeal (Century) were among CHA's strong performers, meaning it maintains its dominance over all other suitors.

Strong paperback sales in the same week a year ago, including Marian Keyes' Anybody Out There (Penguin), Jed Rubenfeld's The Interpretation of Murder (Headline Review) and James Patterson's The 5th Horseman (Headline), are one reason behind the TCM's negative year-on-year performance in volume sales terms. Last week, 4,340,208 books were sold through the TCM, down 4.7% year-on-year. However, with two hardbacks topping the charts, revenue through the market last week was up year-on-year for the ninth consecutive week at £32.7m (up 3.5%).

Book Retail Bestseller News Katie Price Delia smith Philip Stone