UK market down in 2024 without ‘Spare’

In the UK, book sales are down 1% on the first half of 2023, according to Nielsen BookScan Total Consumer Market data, a drop that can be attributed to the absence of Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, reports the Bookseller.

According to Nielsen BookScan, the UK Total Consumer Market value was £767.7 million (A$1.5b), from sales of more than 84 million units, down £8.8 million (A$16.8m) on the prior year. However, Spare sold more than 690,000 copies during the first 26 weeks of 2023, and its value reached £9.8m (A$18.8m), reported the Bookseller, adding that ‘without Spare, it’s possible to speculate that this half-year would have actually outperformed the last’.

Richard Osman’s The Last Devil to Die (Viking), which has sold more than 200,000 copies in seven weeks, is the UK’s number one bestseller for 2024 so far, followed by The Secret (Lee & Andrew Child, Bantam), Bored of Lunch … Even Easier (Nathan Anthony, Ebury), None of This Is True (Lisa Jewell, Penguin) and The Housemaid (Freida McFadden, Hachette).

Category: International news