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Spending at UK booksellers was down 1.5% year-on-year in October with crime and sci-fi genres suffering, although this was an improvement on September when sales were down on 2009 by 3.2%. Book sales in October dropped by £2.3m year-on-year, to £144.7m, according to Nielsen BookScan data. Volume sales were down 3.3% (562,000) to 16.7m, however the actual selling price was up 1.8% (15p) to £8.65.
BookScan GRM data suggests high street bookshop sales were down 4% (to £71.8m) although the measure includes sales at both Tesco and Asda.
Genres down year-on-year include sci-fi, which may be due to Terry Pratchett's Unseen Adademicals (Doubleday) being classed as sci-fi last year whereas this year's I Shall Wear Midnight (Doubleday Children's) is a children's Discworld novel.
Crime is also down year on year, due to Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol (Transworld) selling huge numbers in hardback last year. Historical fiction is also down year-on-year due to the success of Hilary Mantel's Booker-winning Wolf Hall (Fourth Estate) in 2009. Both children's fiction and children's annuals have too seen a slide year on year.
Genres seeing a rise in sales include the food and drink category, thanks to Jamie Oliver's Jamie's 30-minute Meals (Michael Joseph) and biography & memoirs with celebrities appearing to be bouncing back in 2010. Pre-school titles have also seen a rise year-on-year led by Julia Donaldson and Claire Freedman's latest Aliens love Panta Claus (Simon & Schuster Childrens Books) picture book. Thanks to the success of Tate's Gauguin publications the art category has experienced a rise year on year and the film/TV category has also had a positive year.
Spending">http://thebookseller.com/news/130889-september-sales-hit-2010-high-but-s... at UK booksellers reached a then 2010 high in the month of September with spending at UK booksellers totaling £132.2m during the four weeks to 2nd October. However, sales were down 3.2% year-on-year in value terms and volume sales were down 2.5% to 16.5m. Average selling prices were down 0.7% (six pence) to £8.03.