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Just shy of £3m has been spent on the 10 titles of More 4's latest "TV Book Club" in 2011, with sales over the series up 2% on the 2010 selections and against an overall book market decline of 7%.
A grand total of 506,200 copies of the books were snapped up during the 11 weeks to 26th March 2011, up from 497,000 over the comparative period last year.
However, sales of the books fell dramatically between the first episode of the series, on 16th January, and the final episode on 20th March. According to Nielsen BookScan data, 55,500 copies of the 10 titles were snapped up in the week leading up to the first episode, and had fallen to below 25,000 in the week following the final episode. The 55% drop off in sales, however, was not as severe as the decline in the "TV Book Club"'s viewing figures, which fell 69% from 165,000 (More4, episode one) to 50,500 (More4, episode 10).
The bestseller among the 10 titles was comfortably Emma Donoghue's Man Booker-shortlisted Room (Picador), which also benefited from a spot in Richard and Judy's WH Smith-exclusive Book Club. The book sold just shy of 213,000 copies over the 11-week period, more than double the next most popular purchase, Andrea Levy's The Long Song (Headline).
The least popular book, Alan Furst's Spies of the Balkans (Phoenix), sold just 10,300 copies over the period, but its sales were up 76% on his previous work, Spies of Warsaw (Phoenix).
"The TV Book Club" also gave significant sales boosts to Catherine O'Flynn and Michael Robotham. According to BookScan data, O'Flynn's The News Where You Are (Penguin) sold 14,800 copies over the 11-week period, up 921% on sales of her What Was Lost (Tindall Street) over the comparative period, while sales of Robotham's Bleed for Me (Sphere) were up 840% on sales of his previous Joseph O'Loughlin thriller, Shatter (Sphere).
TVBC Sales: 11 weeks to 26th March 2011
Room 212,998
The Long Song 94,092
My Last Duchess 59,044
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 32,595
Bleed for Me 30,665
Tiger Hills 23,385
The News Where You Are 14,832
The Junior Officers' Reading Club 14,498
Even the Dogs 13,841
Spies of the Balkans 10,289