Pullman has a field day at the indies

Although Philip Pullman’s The Rose Field (Penguin and David Fickling Books) has slipped from the top of the Official UK Top 50, there is some consolation as it has remained at the top of the Independent Bookshop Top 20, according to the latest data from NielsenIQ BookData.

Indie bookshops have put the success down to high consumer demand – but also an indie exclusive edition from the publisher. Sarah Dennis, owner of Abingdon’s Mostly Books, said: “The Rose Field has been one of our most successful pre-order titles this year, with copies being sent as far afield as the US. Customers were excited to receive the Independent Edition and, in addition to pre-orders, it has been selling well in the shop.

“There has been a lot of anticipation for this title and, by having an exclusive edition, it creates a sense of exclusivity and excitement which helps bring customers through our door.”

The Rose Field stays in first ahead of Alix E Harrow’s  second-placed The Everlasting (Tor) – although we cannot say by how many units because NielsenIQ does not reveal sales data for its independent sector chart. But in the full Total Consumer Market (TCM), Pullman’s third Book of Dust title is in fourth on just over 19,000 copies while The Everlasting sits 54 places down the chart on 3,621 units.

Harrow is one of eight new entries into the Indie Top 20 – a list that includes the TCM number one, Virginia Giuffre’s Nobody’s Girl (Doubleday), which makes its debut with in 11th place in its second week on sale.

Following the shake-up of the charts in the previous week, thanks to a large number of new releases, there are also four re-entries into the Top 20, including favourites The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (Penguin), There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak (Penguin) and You Are Here by David Nicholls (Hodder).

As the festive period looms ever closer, the Indie Top 20 is aligning itself ever closer with the wider TCM, with 17 of this week’s list coming from the UK Top 100.

Hannah Gold and illustrator Levi Pinfold’s The Lone Husky (HarperCollins) falls from second place to 16th in the indie chart, 151 places higher than in the TCM.

But it is a crossover that we did not know we needed that is over-indexing the most with indie bookshops – Mr Men/Agatha Christie mash-ups Little Miss Marple and Mr Poirot take 17th and 18th place, more than 200 places higher than their UK-wide position.

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.