THE BA AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO THE BOOK TRADE
SPONSORED BY: THE BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION
WINNER: J K ROWLING
J K Rowling was not an overnight success. She spent six years planning the first book Harry Potter and Philosopher’s Stone and the next six. Her début was rejected by eight publishers before being taken in by children’s editor Barry Cunningham, then of Bloomsbury Publishing.
Publication in 1997 did not set the world alight either: it was not until the third book in the series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, that the series began to break out and break records. Azkaban, published in 1999, sold more than 300,000 copies in its first year as a hardback, with each subsequent book in the seven-strong series selling exponentially more. It culminated with the 2.8 million copies sold by Deathly Hallows in 2007. Philosopher’s Stone has since gone on to shift more than 5 million copies in the UK, according to Nielsen. History now records that the series, including last
year’s two new titles, The Cursed Child and Fantastic Beasts, and the spin-off shorts such as The Tales of Beedle the Bard, have brought in £300m through Nielsen BookScan, and vastly more worldwide. Then there is the bit beyond the books: the nine films are among the highest grossing ever made; the stage play among the most succesful ever produced in London. The series has also built a digital business, Pottermore, which sells her e-books and audio downloads, and thanks to her earnings the author has founded charity Lumos, which works to put families back together.
Since 2012 the writer has also re-invented herself,
first with adult title The Casual Vacancy, and more recently with a crime series penned as Robert Galbraith, and published—along with her new Harry Potter titles—by Little, Brown. Her impact on the trade has been remarkable.
Fellow children’s writer David Walliams credits her with keeping children reading at a time when they could have become distracted by digital; in each year of a Harry Potter publication the overall book market grew, with 2007’s Deathy Hallows taking the sector to an all-time high of £1.79bn; her titles were the books that made children queue up outside bookshops at midnight and adults read children’s books. They were also the books that made publishers take notice of their children’s divisions. Her influence extends beyond books. She is an active Twitter user, often engaging directly with fans and downing political foes. In a world that in 2016 turned a little wrong, she was a loud and proud force for good. The new books helped too! Rowling has received numerous accolades and
awards, but it was booksellers that first recognised her talent and sold her books, and in 1998 the Booksellers Association made her its Author of the Year. Two decades on,
we are delighted to honour J K Rowling for what has been a truly Outstanding Contribution to the Book Trade.
AT THE HEART OF PUBLISHING
09 DECEMBER 2016 £4.95 ISSN 0006-7539 49 > 9 770006 753 101
A box office-battering play, the bestselling playscript of all time, the top-selling book of 2016, the most valuable author of 2016, a beastly big-screen adaptation... ...and tie-in title, a tireless tweeter for libraries and literacy, a chart-topping pseudonymous crime writer.
All things considered, it’s not been a bad year for this year’s Bookseller 101st,
J K Rowling Editorial
Cover.indd 1 07/12/2016 18:31
The Booksellers Association is the membership organisation for all booksellers in the UK & Ireland, representing over 95% of booksellers. The BA promotes booksellers and bookselling to consumers and represents the sector to local and national government and in Europe. The BA provides a full range of products and services to its members. Key services include National Book Tokens, the award-winning Batch payments and returns service, World Book Day and Books Are My Bag. The BA also runs the annual BA Conference and Academic Conference for booksellers, publishers and other industry professionals, as well as regional events through the Independent Booksellers Forum throughout the UK and Ireland.
www.booksellers.org.uk
37. BRITISH BOOK AWARDS - WINNERS 2017
CHRISTMAS I S S U E
BUMPER
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