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Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse (Egmont) was once again the bestselling book in the UK last week, selling 30,900 copies across all print editions. Its sale was more than 3,000 copies greater than the second bestselling book of the week, S J Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep (Black Swan), which nonetheless tops the Official UK Top 50 as War Horse’s impressive sales were split across six different editions.
The film tie-in edition of War Horse takes second place in the chart, ahead of Joanna Trollope’s Daughters-in-law (Black Swan), and this week’s highest new entry, Jodi Picoult’s Sing You Home (Hodder). The latter was a member of W H Smith’s half-price “book of the week” promotion last week, while a spot in the retailer’s “£2.99 with the Times” link-save deal helps the mass-market edition of Tom Rob Smith’s Agent 6 (Pocket) début in 10th position in the chart. The latter sold almost as many copies in its three days on sale last week (8,007), as the hardback edition sold in its entire lifetime (10,400 copies).
Four new novels enter the Top 50 this week in a strong week for hardback fiction. According to Nielsen BookScan data, spending on hardback novels was up 17% week on week last week, and up 20% on the same week last year. James Patterson and Mark Sullivan’s London Olympics thriller, Private Games (Century), was the bestselling book of the bunch, selling 5,127 copies in just three days. It débuts in 22nd position in this week's Official UK Top 50 and takes pole position in the Original Fiction chart ahead of Lesley Pearse’s London-set drama, The Promise (Michael Joseph), and Simon Kernick’s London-set thriller, Siege (Bantam Press).
For the first time since records began, facsimile and vintage books publishers Old House top a Bookseller chart. Its Bradshaw’s Handbook, a re-printing of the 1863 railway travel guide, sold 4,138 copies last week and takes top spot in this week’s Hardback Non-fiction chart. Sales of the book have rocketed 1,170% over the past month, courtesy of the fact Michael Portillo uses a copy on the BBC’s “Great British Railway Journeys”. Another more expensive edition of the out-of-copyright guide, published by Middleton Press, sold 544 copies last week.
The BBC tie-in edition of Jennifer Worth’s Call the Midwife (Phoenix) retains pole position atop this week’s paperback non-fiction chart, ahead of Paul McKenna’s I Can Make You Smarter (Bantam Press) and Sophie Hayes’ mis-mem Trafficked (Pocket). Total paperback book sales were up 2% week on week, but were down 17% year on year due principally to the continued struggle of the paperback fiction sector.
Overall, book sales were down 10.9% (£2.9m) year on year to £23.8m last week, with poor sales in the PB fiction sector accounting for approximately 75% (over £2m) of the decline.