From tales of alienation to comforting novels set in bookshops, Japanese authors have written nearly half of this year’s bestselling translated novels in the UK. What’s their secret?• Read an an exclusive Q&A with Haruki MurakamiAnyone who has been in a bookshop in the last few years will have noticed that Japanese fiction is experiencing an extraordinary boom. In 2022, figures from Nielsen BookScan showed that Japanese fiction represented 25% of all translated fiction sales in the UK. The dominance is even more striking this year: figures obtained by the Guardian show that, of the top 40 translated fiction titles for 2024 so far, 43% are Japanese, with Asako Yuzuki’s satirical, socially conscious crime novel Butter topping the list. Butter also won the breakthrough author award at this year’s Books Are My Bag readers awards, which are curated by booksellers and voted for by the public.The popularity of modern Japanese fiction is not a new phenomenon in the UK, of course. In the 1990s, two writers broke through and became cult hits in this country. Haruki Murakami, a worldwide literary phenomenon, took off in Britain when Harvill Press published The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle in 1998. Scott Pack, who ran Waterstones’ buying team in the early 2000s, is a big Murakami fan and remembers giving him “lots of attention. Whatever books of his came out, we got massively behind.” This week, Murakami publishes his 15th novel The City and Its Uncertain Walls, about a man who travels... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2024-11-23 09:00:37 UTC ]
Paddington Bear creator Michael Bond died at home yesterday aged 91 following a short illness, his publisher has said. Described as “a giant of children’s literature” by HarperCollins, which published him for over 60 years, Bond's first book, A Bear Called Paddington, was released in 1958.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Michael Mosley and Tanya Borowski’s The Clever Guts Diet (Short) has bowel’d into the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 19,302 copies for £101,156 according to Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market, and denying Paula Hawkins’ Into the Water (Doubleday) a third week at the top. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Paula Hawkins’ Into the Water (Doubleday) has held the UK Official Top 50 number one spot for a second week running, according to Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bonnier Zaffre has acquired two women’s fiction titles from debut author Asia Mackay, who was a runner-up in the Richard & Judy "Search for a Bestseller" competition. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Matt Forbeck’s Star Wars: Rogue One (Egmont) has knocked Lee Child’s Night School (Bantam) off the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, shifting a stellar 57,949 copies according to Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lee Child has tussled his way into the Official UK Top 50 number one spot for a 16th time, with Night School (Bantam) shifting 36,151 copies for £144,387, according to Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Walliams’ Blob (HarperCollins Children's) has conquered the UK Official Top 50 number one spot for a third week running, selling 56,015 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Walliams has racked up the best single week of sales ever for a (single) World Book Day title, with Blob (HarperCollins Children's) soaring 449% in volume week on week to shift 103,571 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House Children's is to publish a new YA series from Sally Green, whose Half Bad trilogy has sold in 51 territories and shifted over 66,500 copies in the UK via Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales of books included in Waterstones‘ Children’s Book of the Month promotion in 2016 totalled 327,854 units through Nielsen BookScan, demonstrating the retailer’s influence in shaping the market for Middle Grade titles. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Val McDermid’s Out of Bounds (Sphere) has maintained a steely grip on the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, topping the charts for a second week in a row, according to Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Val McDermid has bounced straight into the UK Official number one spot with Out of Bounds (Sphere), shifting 13,310 copies for £53,483 according to Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In 18 months, the Instagram star’s three titles have sold more books than any other UK weight-loss title since records beganInstagrammer turned publishing sensation Joe Wicks is now the author of the UK’s biggest-selling diet books since records began.The Body Coach’s three Lean in 15 books have... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Unit sales of print books declined 5% in the week ended Jan. 8, 2017, compared to the similar week in 2016, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The book market has seen strong Christmas trading, with the week leading up to the big day ranking the highest in value since 2007, figures from Nielsen BookScan have shown. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After sales of print books were down almost 6% between Thanksgiving week and the week ended December 18, 2016 compared to the same period in 2015, units jumped 21% in the week leading up to Christmas, according to figures from Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-12-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all,” Henry David Thoreau once wisely counseled. It is in that spirit that we offer this list. As happens every year, 2016 was full of widely praised novels, but the 15 fiction titles listed here are the ones the Monitor’s... Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2016-12-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Walliams’ The Midnight Gang (HarperCollins Children's) has struck (number) one for a fifth consecutive week, shifting 80,968 copies for £466,987, according to Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sally Whitaker, one of the key figures behind the inception of Nielsen Bookscan is remembered, with her time as m.d. of J Whitaker & Son notable for its many groundbreaking advances. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Beano Annual 2017 (D C Thomson) is on track to be the biggest selling children’s annual this Christmas, with sales of 13,401 units (£52,549 in value terms) to date, according to Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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