The Stranger’s Child leads the way in Booker sales

04.08.11 | Philip Stone - The Bookseller

Man Booker Prize bookies favourite Alan Hollinghurst is proving the most popular of the longlisted titles among the book buying public.
The British novelist’s The Stranger’s Child (Picador) was comfortably the bestselling Booker longlistee in the week the longlist was announced (ending 30th July), selling 2,143 copies across all print editions. Sebastian Barry’s On Canaan’s Side (Faber) and Stephen Kelman’s Pigeon English (Bloomsbury) were the only other titles nominated for the £50,000 prize to sell more than 500 copies last week.
The total, combined sales of all 13 nominees last week was 5,216 copies, up 111% (2,747 copies) on the previous week, but down 45% (4,306) on last year’s longlistees in the comparative week.
Being selected on the longlist had the biggest effect on the sales of Yvette Edwards’ A Cupboard Full of Coats (Oneworld), Alison Pick’s Far to Go (Headline Review) and Jane Rogers’ The Testament of Jessie Lamb (Sandstone). The latter sold just one copy at UK booksellers in the week before the longlist was announced, but sold 164 copies last week, a proportional sales boost of 16,300%.

However, sales of the longlistees remain far behind the bestselling hardback fiction books in the UK. Katie Price’s The Comeback Girl (Century) and Tess Gerritsen’s The Silent Girl (Bantam Press) both outsold the entire longlist combined last week, while Sophie Kinsella’s Mini Shopaholic (Black Swan) was the bestselling paperback novel in the UK last week, selling 37,523 copies