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BookTok is driving a big surge in reading, says Waterstones chief
BookTok is seeing more young people embrace reading than ever before, translating into shops “full of teenagers and young adults” in a trend not seen since the heyday of Harry Potter, according to Waterstones m.d. and Barnes & Noble c.e.o. James Daunt. Speaking at The New
Future conference, hosted
by the Umberto e Elisabetta Mauri School for Booksellers in Italy, Daunt said the “thrilling” growth of BookTok had been encouraging more young people to buy from physical bookshops. He said: “The market
share for Barnes & Noble and for Waterstones for the bestsellers is enormous. We enjoy 50%, 60%, 70%
market share on books such as Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles (Bloomsbury). And we as a bookseller haven’t enjoyed this kind of dominance of what is exciting in books since J K Rowling and Harry Potter. It is back to that kind of energy in our stores. Our challenge now is that we absolutely have to keep those customers, as we did with the Harry Potter generation. It stepped booksellers up and it stepped book sales up.” The shops themselves
are getting in on the act and creating their own TikTok accounts. But to be successful, they need to be authentic, he said. “It’s about fun and enjoyment and enthusiasm and the people who do it brilliantly are of the same generation—it’s our young booksellers and we let them get on it.”
volume 3.50m
WEEK ON WEEK 3.5%
Rights deal
Fourth Estate bags two novels from Day Fourth Estate has scooped two new novels from Magpie author Elizabeth Day. Michelle Kane, PR and publishing director, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights in a “very significant deal” from Nelle Andrew at The Rachel Mills Literary Agency. Publication dates and titles are to be announced. Day said she was “truly delighted” to be staying with the imprint. “I can’t wait to see what we do next—now I guess I just have to write the books,” she said.
Book of the Week
Weekly TCM
This week’s most read
Blackwell’s up for sale for the first time
Rights deal
Bloomsbury signs major deal for Aslany Bloomsbury has acquired an “extraordinary” non-fiction work by Dr Maryam Aslany, for an “unprecedented major six-figure advance”. Publishing in 2026, Peasants follows the story of agriculturalists who produce commodities including rice, chocolate, palm oil, silk and cocaine. Associate publisher Alexis Kirschbaum acquired English-language rights for the UK and Commonwealth and translation rights from David Godwin.
TheBookseller.com
Hannah Lowe triumphs at Costa Book Awards
BookTok giving bookshops a boost
H
annah Lowe has won the £30,000 Costa Book of the Year award for
her “joyous” collection of poetry The Kids. Lowe was named the winner
at an awards ceremony on 1st February at Pan Pacific London hosted by presenter and broadcaster Penny Smith. The Kids is the ninth collection
of poetry to take the overall prize and the second Book of the Year win for independent publisher Bloodaxe Books, following Inside the Wave by late author and poet Helen Dunmore in 2017. A book of sonnets about
teaching, learning, growing up and parenthood, it draws on Lowe’s decade of teaching in an inner-city London sixth form during the 2000s, and her own coming of age, and concludes with poems about her
© Jeff Spicer/Getty for Costa Coffee 11
Swift Press to publish Clanchy
young son learning to negotiate contemporary London. BBC News journalist and chair
of judges Reeta Chakrabarti described it as “a book to fall in love with—it’s joyous, it’s warm and it’s completely universal”. Lowe said she was “delighted”
to win the award and thought it was particularly special for a collection of poetry to triumph. She said: “Poetry is having a very exciting time and I’m glad to be an advocate for it at the minute.” Neil Astley, editor and
managing director of Bloodaxe Books, told The Bookseller that The Kids will have an appeal “way beyond the usual readership for poetry”. He said: “I couldn’t be more delighted. We put through another reprint just before Christmas and I’m organising another one right now.”
Clarification The publisher performance chart published last week misstated Bonnier Books’ performance. Rather than declining, sales rose 16.3% to £35m. Its ranking on the list remains unchanged. We apologise for this error.
Lily’s Promise Lily Ebert & Dov Forman Macmillan, hb, £18.99, 9781529073409 One of the biggest movers in this week’s chart—up 3,660 places to 67th—is 98-year-old Ebert’s memoir of surviving the Holocaust, written with her 18-year- old great-grandson Forman. The jump has been driven by, you guessed it, TikTok. But rather than being solely the beneficiaries of BookTokkers enthusing about their book, it is the authors leading the conversation: the duo’s @lilyebert account now has more than 1.7 million followers.
Data The bestseller charts 16
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LATESTNEWS Bookshops campaign for same business rate relief as pubs
Bookshops are asking to begiven the same business-rate relief as pubs, arguing they help to drive social cohesion in a similar way to drinking establishments.
Igloooverhaul puts business back on track
Igloo Books,the mass-market children’s books business owned by Bonnier Publishing, has undergone anoverhaul thanks to its new chief executive officer, who has affirmed the division’s future profitability.
PLR to cover e-booksand audiobooks
The Public Lending Right (PLR) will be extendedto cover e-book audiobooksborrowed from libraries from 1stJ
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