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 ]
YouTuber Alfie Deyes is to write two more books for Blink Publishing, including a sequel to his bestselling debut The Pointless Book. The sequel to The Pointless Book, which has sold more than 100,000 copies through Nielsen BookScan, will be published in April 2015. This will be followed by a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Julia Donaldson has bested fellow bestsellers J K Rowling, Jamie Oliver and Dan Brown to become the only author to record annual sales of over £10m in five consecutive years. The Gruffalo creator sold almost £239,000 last week through Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market, to bring her tally... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Newly formed production company Monumental Pictures has acquired the film rights to Caitlin Moran’s novel How to Build a Girl (Ebury Press). Moran and John Niven will adapt the book for the big screen, with Film 4 backing the project. Moran’s debut novel follows teenager Johanna Morrigan, who... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jeff Kinney's newest Wimpy Kid title has débuted at number one, knocking David Walliams' Awful Auntie from the top of the UK Official Top 50 after a run of six consecutive weeks. The Long Haul (Puffin), the ninth of Kinney's books featuring hapless middle schooler Greg Heffley, sold 59,315... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lena Dunham's much-talked about essay collection, 'Not That Kind of Girl,' sold about 38,000 print copies in its first week on sale, according to Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rob Davis's new graphic novel 'The Motherless Oven' presents a strange world where no one knows their birthday but everyone knows their deathday, and household appliances have souls. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sharlto Copley will star as the lead in Powers, Sony PlayStation Network’s first foray into original programming. Copley, of District 9 and recent box office grand slam Maleficent, joins the lineup of stars in the drama adapted from a Marvel comic book series. FX had been trying to develop the... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2014-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Last week saw £23.4m of book sales registered through Nielsen BookScan; its highest value... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-07-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales of both hardcovers and trade paperbacks, the industry’s two largest print categories, were up 2% in the first six months of this year, compared to the first half of 2013, leading to an overall 1% gain in print unit sales at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-07-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The second installment of J.K. Rowling's Cormoran Strike series (written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith) sold roughly 21,000 copies in its first partial week on sale, according to Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hillary Clinton’s "Hard Choices" sold 85,721 copies in its first week on sale at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Our summer online book club covering the works of Haruki Murkami, “A Wild Murakami Chase,” moves on to "The Wind Up Bird Chronicle." Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Just under 3m book sales registered through Nielsen BookScan for the week ending the 31st of May... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-06-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Since the demise of Noodle Kidoodle and Zany Brainy in the early 2000s, specialty “book-and-toy” stores have maintained a low profile. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Unit sales of print books sold through Nielsen BookScan’s mass merchandisers/other channel fell 9% in the first 10 weeks of 2014, compared to the same period in 2013. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, already topping charts across Europe, will be published in the UK in AugustHaruki Murakami's UK publisher has announced that the Japanese author's latest novel, which is currently topping charts in Germany, Spain and Holland, will be... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-02-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The memoir of former defense secretary Robert M. Gates has sold more than 80,000 copies during its first week on sale in the outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Unit sales of print books fell 4% in the first week of 2014 compared to the week ended Jan. 6, 2013, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales of print books through outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan’s retail & club channel fell 2.5%, to 501.6 million units, in 2013, compared to 2012. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Despite the controversy stirred up Wednesday afternoon by critical remarks of "homosexual behavior" by Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson in a GQ interview, Simon & Schuster has no plans to pull Phil Robertson's bestselling book, Happy, Happy, Happy. The title has sold nearly 600,000... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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