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Ireland’s print sales have seen a 29% decline in value over the period the country has been in lockdown compared to the same period in 2019, according to Nielsen BookScan data. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced the closure of shops on 24th March and, from then to the week ending 2nd May, Irish physical book sales dropped 27% in volume through BookScan's Irish Consumer Market (ICM) and declined in value from ‚Ǩ11.4m earned across the same period in 2019 to ‚Ǩ8.1m.
Adult Non-Fiction has been hardest hit, with a 35% plummet year on year. The category fell by ‚Ǩ1.68m compared to the same period last year—though spring 2019 was a particularly verdant period for non-fiction with Mrs Hinch’s Hinch Yourself Happy and Kay Featherstone and Kate Allinson’s Pinch of Nom proving to be hits on both sides of the Irish Sea. The two lifestyle titles shifted over 20,000 copies through the ICM for ‚Ǩ294,000 in the late March/April period last year.
Just escaping the lockdown with fortuitous timing was Gina and Karol Daly’s The Daly Dish (GIll)—known as the “Irish Pinch of Nom”—published on 13th March. It sold 6,416 copies in its first week on sale, the biggest launch week in the country since Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in 2016, and within the lockdown period shifted a further 6,129 units, earning £119,704, to top the bestsellers chart. Without The Daly Dish, there would be a single non-fiction title in Ireland’s top 10 over the lockdown period: Charlie Mackesy’s The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse, in 10th.
However, one non-fiction category saw an 81% improvement in value year on year, as the nation, stuck indoors with nothing to do, turned to colouring and activity books, Handicrafts, Arts and Crafts jumped €53,241 year on year, while Puzzles also rose by 64%.
Adult Fiction suffered, too, falling 28% in value, with just under €1m wiped off its year-on-year total.
General and Literary Fiction was the highest-earning category across the market, though it fell 23% against its 2019 value, earning ‚Ǩ986,079. Crime & Thriller was the third-highest, though still down 37% year on year. Queen of literary Ireland Sally Rooney scored strongly with Normal People, its much-feted BBC adaptation boosting its fortunes on her home turf (and in the UK too), though she missed out on the overall fiction top spot by fewer than 700 copies to Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing.
Children’s was the least affected of the main categories, though still fell by 25% in value to ‚Ǩ2.07m euros. Yet with children being home schooled, a few categories have done well: Reference and Home Learning's value rose 56%. Though Children’s Fiction dropped 28% (to just under ‚Ǩ904,000) against 2019, it was still the second-most valuable category across the market.