The Bookseller.com

5th July 2009

Sales up for Richard and Judy list

14.01.09 Katie Allen and Philip Stone

Almost all of the titles in Richard & Judy's Best Read promotion have experienced a sales bounce, even before being featured on the show. The Brutal Art more than doubled its sales, while When Will There Be Good News? experienced a 54% rise.

The Best Read campaign begins on "Richard & Judy's New Position" on UKTV channel Watch on 21st January. The full list of titles was revealed in The Bookseller on 19th December with the mainstream press reporting the titles on Boxing Day.

Nine of the 10 titles saw a significant jump in sales between the first sales week of the year (27th December 2008 to 3rd January 2009) and the second week (3rd January to 10th January). The Brutal Art by Jesse Kellerman (Sphere) led the way with sales up from 8,231 copies to 16,943, while When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson (Black Swan) leapt from 11,975 to 18,242. The only title to experience a drop in sales was Netherland by Joseph Neill (Fourth Estate) from 3,339 to 3,070.

Booksellers said they would support the promotion despite low viewing figures for "New Position", which moved to the digital channel from Channel 4 in October. Audiences dipped from 143,000 on the first night to a low of 13,000 on 4th December.

On Tuesday (12th January) the show changed its broadcast time from 8p.m. to 6 p.m. According to figures from Broadcast magazine, it attracted an average of 28,000 viewers with an additional 9,000 on Watch+1. In its previous time-slot the show attracted 22,000 for its final broadcast of 2008.

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