SECTOR ANALYSIS
The World’s Worst Teachers in first and second. In total, 10 of his titles chart in the Children’s TCM-wide top 50. However, through indies his 2019-published titles place fourth and fiſth, with just one other Walliams title in the top 50: Bad Dad, in 25th. This incongruit between the charts could be down to the author over-indexing in sales through supermarkets and Amazon—at this writing, The Beast of Buckingham Palace has been top of the online retailer’s Most-Sold: Fiction chart since its
release. Jeff Kinney suffered from a similar indie drag—his World Book Day title Diary of Greg Heffley’s Best Friend was the promotion’s bestseller, but is trumped by LEGO Minifigure Mayhem through the independent chart. Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid, which hits fourth place in the TCM-wide chart for the same period, is only in 24th place.
The incongruity between the indie and TCM-wide charts could be down to David Walliams over-indexing in sales through supermarkets and Amazon
Impressively, Philip Pullman’s The Secret Commonwealth soared into third place, aſter just over a month on the shelves. Its Book of Dust predecessor La Belle Sauvage charted 20th. The Secret Commonwealth went straight into the Official UK Top 50 number one spot upon release, selling 54,301 copies in its first week on sale. It also spent two weeks in the weekly indie retailers’ top spot, becoming the first Children’s title to do so since March. In 2019 Pullman’s total sales, boosted by both the new title and the BBC’s glossy adaptation of His Dark Materials, were up a stonking 92% in volume on 2018—and
3% up on 2017, when La Belle Sauvage was first released in hardback. Both the His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust titles have also performed stunningly in e-book, hinting that Pullman’s readers are more likely to be Millennials who originally read him as children in the 1990s than today’s kids.
1,003
Chart places The Little Book of Jokes for Kids climbs compared to the TCM-wide chart
£15.42
Average selling price of Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’ The Lost Words
On the Run
Katherine Rundell was also a firm favourite among indies, with her 2017 Costa Children’s Award-winning The Explorer resplendent in 13th place, and the 2019-published The Good Thieves in 39th. Kes Gray and Jim Field’s Oi! series featured four times, with Oi Frog! in 28th place, Oi Dog! in 35th, Oi Cat! in 37th and
the concept-subverting Oi Duck-Billed Platpus! in 49th. Let’s also acknowledge the indie chops of The Little Book of Jokes for Kids. In the TCM-wide Children’s chart, it charted 1,015th—in the independent top 50 it scored 12th. Similarly, Julia Donaldson and Catherine Rayner’s The Go-Away Bird was the author’s 61st-bestselling title in 2019 through the TCM as a whole, yet was the third-highest- charting of her six titles in the indie top 50. Robert McFarlane
and Jackie Morris’ The Lost Words—a Nibbies
Children’s Book of the Year in 2018— was another indie darling, in 22nd place. Interestingly, The Go-Away Bird was Donaldson’s most expensive title though her TCM 2019 top 100, and The Lost Words cashed in too, with an average selling price of £15.42.
Trendwatch Picture books
228,202 units
The Wonky Donkey Craig Smith, Katz Cowley Scholastic
106,309 units
PHILIP PULLMAN, KATHERINE RUNDELL BELOW LEFT AND JACKIE MORRIS ALL PERFORMED WELL THROUGH INDIES
Zog
Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler Scholastic
94,734 units
The Smeds and the Smoos Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler Alison Green Books
93,715 units
The Tiger Who Came to Tea Judith Kerr HarperCollins
93,281 units
The Ugly Five Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler Alison Green Books
*Sales are across all editions through the entire TCM.
February 2020–July 2020 07
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