What’s selling after Christmas?

While booksellers are currently focussed on those all-important Christmas sales, it’s worth taking a look at some of the titles that sell well in the post-Christmas period.

Nielsen BookScan has compiled a list of the bestselling adult fiction and nonfiction titles in January to March over the past five years. The charts are split into total market and independent booksellers. 

‘Health and fitness books and fun, frivolous fiction titles’ are among the bestsellers at Booktopia in the early months of the year, says John Purcell, head of marketing and chief buyer at Booktopia. ‘I expect Michelle Bridges to do very well with Superfoods Cookbook (Viking). And this year’s must-have celebrity health book must be Cameron Diaz’s The Body Book (HarperCollins).’

Purcell also believes the ‘superabundance’ of titles released in the lead-up to Christmas ‘will keep readers and booksellers busy well into next year’. These include The Tournament (Matthew Riley, Macmillan), The Signature of All Things (Elizabeth Gilbert, Bloomsbury), Eyrie (Tim Winton, Hamish Hamilton), Barracuda (Christos Tsiolkas, A&U) and The Luminaries (Eleanor Catton, Granta).

To this list he adds a couple of December releases that he thinks ‘will be seen on beaches early next year’, such as Paullina Simons’ Bellagrand (HarperCollins), Michael Connelly’s The Gods of Guilt (A&U) and Gemma Crisp’s Don’t Know What You’ve Got Till It’s Gone, the sequel to Be Careful What You Wish For (both A&U).

‘I always look forward to Jan, Feb, March because in these slower months publishers can take more risks, they can try new things and every now and then they can strike it lucky and find a book which changes the direction of the market,’ says Purcell.

According to Catherine Schulz, manager of Fullers Bookshop Hobart, the kids section ‘totally goes off’ after Christmas. ‘Kids have got their Christmas cash and vouchers and we get mobbed,’ says Schulz, who adds that families on their summer holidays also turn up at the bookstore. ‘This year I am ordering differently with that in mind. Several orders due for delivery in late December are kids’ activities and fiction.’

Stationary and other non-book items are also popular, says Schulz. ‘The poor non-readers who get given vouchers are happy if they don’t have to choose a book and can just buy key rings/mugs/mouse-mats/tote bags/Keri Smith journals.’

What hasn’t worked as well in recent years, says Schulz, are the ‘holiday reads’. ‘I no longer bother to pick out “summery” type reads. There is more likelihood of selling Eleanor Catton than pulp.’

Tags: christmas

Category: Features