UK six-month book sales sets record on back of price rises

In the UK, book sales in the first six months of 2023 represented the best-ever first half of a year results since accurate records began, reports the Bookseller.

According to Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market, book sales totalled £776.6 million (A$1.5b) in the first 26 weeks of the year, up 1.1% on the same period in 2022, and up 11.5% on the same period in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year.

The number of books sold was down over the same period, however, with 3.8 million fewer print books sold in the first half of this year compared to 2022. Consumers have been paying an average 46p (A$0.88) more per book, and the average selling price reached its highest-ever mark of £8.87 (A$16.95).

By category, fiction sales were worth £215.8 million (A$412.2m)—the best return in 15 years. Colleen Hoover was the bestselling fiction author, with five books in the overall top 50, however the Bookseller also noted a drop in the number of books it judged as ‘mainly TikTok phenomena’ in the top 100, with 18 titles this year compared to 24 last year.

Adult nonfiction sales were up 2.5% by value but down 5.4% by volume, with Prince Harry’s Spare accounting for the category’s value growth. The children’s category fell 3.4% in value, but sales still remain stronger than in all but the past two half-years.

Category: International news