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 ]
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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Illustrated tales introducing youngsters to ‘iconic works of classic literature’ such as Jack Kerouac’s beatnik adventure are missing the pointMy daughter is five, and all for knowing about what her parents are up to. Her father was reading The Lord of the Rings on holiday last week, and she... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-08-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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J K Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Little, Brown) once again easily triumphed at the top of the charts, shifting 86,525 units last week through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-08-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mass merchandisers accounted for 33% of the first week sales of 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts 1 & 2,' according to Nielsen BookScan. The uptick was a much needed boost for the embattled retail channel. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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J K Rowling and Jack Thorne’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Little, Brown) has become the fourth fastest-selling title of all time, with 847,886 copies worth £8.76m shifted through Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market last week, making it 2016's biggest selling title of the year in just... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jojo Moyes has toppled clean eating behemoth Joe Wicks, as After You (Penguin), the sequel to bestseller Me Before You (Michael Joseph), sold 53,867 copies for £214,008 to hit the Official UK Top 50 number one spot, according to Nielsen BookScan’s TCM. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Joe “The Body Coach” Wicks’ second title Lean in 15: The Shape Plan (Bluebird) has scored a second consecutive week in the Official UK Top 50 number one spot, according to Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Walliams has claimed his 14th Official UK Top 50 number one, as The World’s Worst Children (HarperCollins) shunted Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train (Black Swan) off the top spot, selling 64,137 copies for £441,875 through Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Girl on the Train (Black Swan) has run away with the Official UK Top 50 number one spot for a second week, selling 89,852 copies for £347,113, according to Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. This is a 51.9% increase in volume on its first week at the top. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-05-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twelve vloggers have collectively racked up sales of more than £15m in the UK in just 18 months, according to figures from Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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