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16


CHILDREN’S NEWS


10.02.17 www.thebookseller.com


Trade hails Book of the Month impact BY CHARLOTTE EYRE


Sales of books included in Waterstones‘ Children’s Book of the Month promotion in 2016 totalled 327,854 units through Nielsen BookScan, demonstrating the retailer’s influence in shaping the market for Middle Grade titles. Each month the high-street bookseller selects


one kids’ title to promote in its shops. The titles are chosen by children’s buyer Florentyna Martin, who told The Bookseller she looks for titles that “captivate the reader” with “fresh and interesting characters and intriguing plotlines”. Even though the promotion is not confined to


Middle Grade books, Martin said she often picks books for the eight to 12 age group because of their broad appeal. “We see a lot of younger fiction being chosen as Book of the Month, as it has such a strong appeal across younger and older readers,” she said. Waterstones declined to give exact sales


figures recorded through its estate, but it said David Solomons’ My Brother is a Superhero, which was Children’s Book of the Month in March and April, and won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize last year, saw a volume increase of 1,400% across the chain after its award win. However, all the books selected in 2016 posted substantial sales through BookScan. My Brother is a Superhero was the biggest seller, followed by The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave (43,599 copies) and Time Travelling with a Hamster by Ross Welford (38,241 units). Barry Cunningham, m.d. of Chicken House, which had four titles in the promotion last year, said it boosts sales by 10,000–15,000 copies, on average, and in some cases “even by 40,000– 50,000 copies”. Authors “practically pass out with excitement” when selected, he said, adding that the promotion “provides a platform for their


Kiran Millwood Hargrave


led the four Chicken House authors included in the


promotion in 2016 in sales terms


career”. He continued: “It’s great that Waterstones doesn’t just go for big names, it goes for début authors. We love that it’s not one draconian system where everything is the same; instead the booksellers create these incredible window displays. It feelds the local into the national. Our authors will support it by going to do signings and other activities. When you go out, there is a sense that people have seen the book and heard about it already. For us especially, it makes a difference as we don’t have the megabucks that some of the bigger publishers do.” Millwood Hargrave said The Girl of Ink and


Stars sold 4,500 copies in the first week of its inclusion in the scheme, of which “around 4,000” units were sold through Waterstones. “As a début with no public profile to speak of, that speaks volumes about the reach and influence Waterstones has,” she said. “It matters that Waterstones is putting so much behind children’s books and I think other stores should


Waterstones Book of the Month: Top 10 title


01 My Brother is a Superhero 02 The Girl of Ink and Stars


03 Time Travelling with a Hamster 04 Beetle Boy


05 The Crooked Sixpence 06 The Wolf Wilder 07 Cogheart


08 The Snow Spider author; illustrator imprint isbn (978+) month sales


Solomons; Anderson, Biddulph Nosy Crow 0857634795 Mar/Apr 86,153 Kiran Millwood Hargrave Ross Welford M G Leonard Jennifer Bell


Chicken House 1910002742 May 43,599 HarperCollins 0008156312 Jan


Chicken House 1910002704 Feb 37,974 Corgi


0552572507 Jun


Katherine Rundell Peter Bunzl Jenny Nimmo


09 The Accidental Pirate... Magical North Claire Fayers 10 The Secret of Nightingale Wood


Lucy Strange 38,241 29,363


Bloomsbury 1408854853 Sep 27,854 Usborne Egmont


Pan Mac 1447290605 Jul


1474915007 Aug 21,671 1405281775 Nov 15,446 13,797


Chicken House 1910655030 Oct 13,756


Peter Bunzl racked up impressive sales of his August release Cogheart


commit to this too, if they are able.” Kate Wilson, m.d. of Nosy Crow, said it was


a “brilliant commercial initiative”, adding: “The thoughtful, savvy feedback we get from [Waterstones’] head office continues to inform our publishing.” J P Hunting, head of sales at HarperCollins


Children’s, added: “The top five children’s débuts last year were all Book of the Month [picks]. The company has carved out this niche. It is good at collaborating with publishers anyway, and at identifying titles that will work. It means the stores will sell 8,000–10,000 throughout the month, as opposed to a couple of thousand across the trade. [Another] benefit is that it attracts more noise in the industry itself. Time Travelling with a Hamster was shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award and the Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Awards [after its selection]. The fact that it was chosen by Waterstones means it gets noticed in the industry.”


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