On books     
 by Katie Allen , The Bookseller's media editor    

  
With Independent Booksellers Week in full swing, small bookshops have been enjoying author visits increased exposure in the media, and a resultant uptick in sales, despite the obvious distractions of the football. As Patrick Neale, co-owner of the Jaffé & Neale Bookshop in Chipping Norton,
says: "We’re putting ourselves back at the top of people’s minds again.”

But let's not forget the World Cup: according to Nielsen BookScan sales are
up of football-related titles, with Liverpool and Spain striker Fernando
Torres' picturesque memoir, El Niño (HarperSport), the bestselling
football memoir in the UK. Other titles selling well are Keir Radnedge's
FIFA World Cup Football Records 2010 (Carlton); Parragon's World Cup 2010 Superstars; Terry Crouch's The World Cup: The Complete History  (Aurum); and ex-BBC sports editor Mihir Bose's World Cup: All You Need to Know (Endeavour). The bestselling World Cup book remains the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Official Book (Carlton), which sold 2,986 copies last week—down 6.5% week on week, but up 55% on its sales four weeks ago.

Janet Skeslien Charles' debut novel about a mail-order bride won the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance this week. Moonlight in Odessa, published by Bloomsbury, is the story of Daria, who takes a job at dating service Soviet Unions. It beat titles from Katie Fforde and Danny King, among others.

Meanwhile, the Society of Authors handed out a welter of prizes at its typically star-studded dinner earlier this week: authors including Nadifa Mohamed, Tristram Hunt, and Raphael Selbourne were among the winners.

While authors including Marilynne Robinson, Zoe Heller, Joseph O'Neill and Ross Raisin will be holding their breath until the winner is announced tonight for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. It's worth €100,000 to the winner.