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 ]
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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David Walliams has once again secured the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, with The Midnight Gang (HarperCollins Children's) shifting 81,216 copies for £467,852, according to Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Industry veteran Frank Cooper is leaving BuzzFeed, where he has been CMO for the past 17 months. In marketing circles, Cooper has been seen as a key conduit between the digital publisher and advertisers because of his brand experience. He quit his post as PepsiCo's chief marketer in June 2015... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2016-11-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Walliams has clinched the UK Official Top 50 number one spot for a third week running, as The Midnight Gang (HarperCollins Children's) sold 78,950 copies for £449,629 through Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Walliams has put the brakes on The Girl on the Train’s 12-week run at the top of the chart, with The Midnight Gang (HarperCollins Children's) striking the Official UK Top 50 number one spot with a resounding chime, according to Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'The Magnolia Story' by Chip and Joanna Gaines, stars of HGTV's 'Fixer Upper,' sold more than 121,000 print copies in its first week on sale, according to Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sidemen: The Book (Coronet), authored by the supergroup of gaming YouTubers, has become the biggest-selling title of Super Thursday 2016, via Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bruce Springsteen has thundered into the Official UK Top 50 number one spot with his memoir Born to Run (Simon & Schuster), which sold 37,518 copies for £437,540, according to Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Girl on the Train (Black Swan) has run away with both first and second place in the Official UK Top 50, according to Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As "The Great British Bake Off" marks its last series on the BBC, ending an era, The Bookseller's charts and data editor Kiera O'Brien takes a look at how much dough books related to the programme have made via Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Little, Brown) has racked up five weeks as the Official UK Top 50 number one—but the gap is closing. According to Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market, the playscript sold 36,485 copies for £455,824, just 7,503 units above runner-up The Girl on the Train... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Little, Brown) has snatched the Official Top 50 number one for a fourth week, according to Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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