17.09.14 | John Lewis - The BooksellerThis is the 19th novel to feature the detective Rebus, recently demoted and finding his early career and actions under scrutiny when a 30-year-old case is reopened. With the Scottish referendum serving as a backdrop to the thriller's storyline, its position seems more than appropriate. This is the Scottish author's fourth novel to top the chart following Resurrection Men, Exit Music and Doors Open. Saints…has already sold 105,222 copies to date in hardback since publication last November. Rankin's previous Rebus novel, Standing in Another Man's Grave has sold 181,431 copies in paperback since debuting at number six back in June 2013 with 12,688 copies but first week chart sales for the latest novel are up by 15%. Saints… sold 14,571 copies, not the lowest tally for a number one title certainly but the lowest since 2011, when Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever (Puffin) claimed top spot with 12,004 copies in the year's final week (week ending 31st Dec 2011). It is however the lowest number one figure for any week in September since 2002 When P D James' Death in Holy Orders claimed first place with 14,351.
Rankin tops the chart in the best week for book sales so far in 2014. Nielsen Bookscan figures show that for the third straight week, sales have grown across the TCM. Value sales were up 2.7% week on week and overall £26m was spent on books through the TCM, spread across 3.2m books.
The Man Booker Prize shortlist was announced last week and sales for the six shortlisted titles jumped 74% week on week. Joshua Ferris' To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Karen Joy Fowler's We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Howard Jacobson's J, Neel Mukherjee's The Lives of Others and Ali Smith's How to Be Both sold a combined 8,196 copies last week with Fowler's paperback the week's highest gainer in volume terms selling 5,043 copies (up 44% week on week). The novel has sold more than 3,500 copies every week for the last seven and has shifted 31,343 copies since the longlist was revealed.
Combined sales of the six titles were up 10% in comparison to last year’s shortlist week. However, this year sales have been concentrated in two books-Fowler's and Smith's, which was the only other title to sell more than 1,000 copies last week on the list. Last year, four of the shortlist sold over 1,000 copies in the week the shortlist was revealed. Interestingly, for the last three years, the title with the most sales in its format in shortlist week has emerged as the overall winner.
In 2011, Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending (Jonathan Cape) sold 3,543 and was that year's only hardback. In 2012, Hilary Mantel's Bring up the Bodies (Fourth Estate) sold 2,213 copies, outselling nominated titles by Will Self and Tan Twan Eng in hardback and last year, Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries (Granta) comfortably outsold Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowland that week selling 1,324 copies. All went on to win the prize. Of course, we will have to wait until Tuesday 14th October to see who wins but Fowler and Smith's success in their respective formats cannot hurt either author's prospects.
Lee Child's Personal (Bantam Press) remained at number one in the Original Fiction chart with 11,452 copies sold for a combined total of 60,000 copies. The thriller is now the best-selling hardback Fiction title of the year, stealing the top spot away from JK Rowling-penned Robert Galbraith novel The Silkworm (Sphere) in second place with sales of 58,147 copies to date.
There were four new entries in the Original Fiction Top 10. The 1,000 page final instalment of Ken Follett's ambitious Century trilogy Edge of Eternity (Macmillan), exploring five families' fate during the Cold War was the week's highest entry at number three selling 5,620 copies.
There were plenty of murders to investigate in the Top 10 with Sophie Hannah's new Poirot novel The Monogram Murders (HarperCollins), Kate Mosse's The Taxidermist's Daughter (Orion) and Kathy Reich's 17th Temperance Brennan novel Bones Never Lie (Heinemann) taking positions five, six and seven respectively. A further five new entries claimed the positions 16-20 on the chart and helping to push the average selling price of titles in the TCM above £8.00 for the first time this year.
There were also blockbuster new titles in Hardback Non-fiction including Yotam Ottolenghi's eagerly anticipated follow-up to his 2010 best seller Plenty (Ebury), aptly titled Plenty More debuting at seven with 4,454 copies. The original Plenty has sold 196,705 copies to date including over 13,000 copies so far this year.
There were also new releases from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Lorraine Pascal, Clare Balding, and Kelly Brook among others.
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