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The book trade enjoyed its busiest week of the year last week, with sales passing £50m for the first time, as retailers report what was described as a "genuine uplift" in trading in the week of the Chancellor's pre-budget report. Nevertheless the book market fell further behind last year, with the 12-month rolling measure now showing sales down by 0.5% in revenue terms.
Sales through Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market measured £51.1m in the week ending 29th November, up more than 20% week-on-week by value, and by almost 22% in volume terms. However, year-on-year the market was down by 5.4%, when book sales hit £54m, the first time they had passed £50m in 2007, save for Harry Potter week.
The top ten bestsellers all saw sales increases, with Guinness World Records shifting almost 73,000 copies, up from 59,612, and Julie Waters' That's Another Story moving up to the second spot in the Top 50, with sales almost doubling at 64,405.