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The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, the Horse and the indie bookshops
For a second week, Charlie Mackesy has claimed the top of the Independent Bookshop Top 20, according to the latest data from NielsenIQ BookData – marking the fourth week in a row where the Indie number one has matched the UK-wide bestseller.
NielsenIQ does not reveal sales date for the indie sector, but it is likely that following an initial burst of attention when Mackesy’s Always Remember (Ebury Press) was released on Super Thursday, indie bookshops have seen a decline in sales compared with the first week, even if it may not be as stark as in the rest of NielsenIQ’s full Total Consumer Market (TCM).
At the number two slot in Indie Top 20 is Pomp & Circumstance, the second collaboration between former Conservative MP Penny Mordaunt and Chris Lewis (Biteback). It has sold 3,252 copies across the full TCM and Mordaunt has been at several events across publication week which will likely have contributed towards their indie position which is 55 positions higher than its full-market placing.
That is not the biggest disparity between the indie and the full-market chart, though – that honour goes to Jess Kidd whose Murder at Gulls Nest (Faber) lands in 19th place, 765 positions higher than its seat in the TCM, seven months after it was first published.
There are two other new entries in the Indie Top 20 this week – Adrian Tchaikovksy’s Lives of Bitter Rain (Head of Zeus) and Hollie McNish’s Virgin (Fleet) appear in ninth and 11th spots respectively, some 200 positions higher than their nationwide appearances.
There is a crossover of just six titles between the Indie Top 20 and the equivalent TCM ranking, with the biggest casualty being Freida McFadden’s The Intruder which is third in the overall UK chart, but fails to break into the indie ranking.
The full Independent Bookshop Top 20 can be found on The Bookseller’s bestseller pages. The Bookseller has adjusted the Independent Bookshop chart to remove some titles where sales do not derive from traditional bricks-and-mortar bookshops, such as exhibition catalogues and those featured on conglomerates’ subscription boxes.
