Sales boost for Orange longlist
Philip Stone and Katie Allen writing in The Bookseller

Sales of the Orange longlist titles have received a slight boost in the first week since the announcement of the 20-strong list last Wednesday (18th March).

According to Nielsen Book­Scan, combined sales of the longlist, which includes Marilynne Robinson's Home (Virago) and Toni Morrison's A Mercy (Chatto), increased by 38%.

However, the total sales equalled only 865 copies last week—although sales are likely to have been impacted by the fact that many of the longlist have not yet had a full week in stores.

Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife (Doubleday) sold 147 copies last week, Bernadine Evaristo's Blonde Roots (Hamish Hamilton) sold 139, while Gaynor Arnold's Girl in a Blue Dress (Tindal Street) sold 108.

Less well-known titles received the biggest uplift, although with limited sales, with Samantha Hunt's The Invention of Everything Else (Harvill Secker) jumping 700% from one copy sold to eight, and Gina Ochsner's The Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight (Portobello) jumping 666.7% from three to 23 copies sold week on week.

Last year's winner, The Road Home by Rose Tremain (Chatto), sold just 62 copies in the week the Orange longlist was first announced but has since gone on to sell 236,304 copies across all editions to date.