IN DEPTH


After six consecutive years of growth through the TCM, the Children’s sector faces a huge threat from coronavirus. But could stay- at-home parents keep the sales momentum rolling?


Data Children’s Spring Special


Children’s market on course to echo 2019 success—if Covid-19 can be negotiated


AND PAUL LINNET TOP THE CHART


SUE HENDRA


Kiera O'Brien @kieraobrien


L


et’s cast our minds back to just a few short months ago, when Corona was


a beer to mark the first day of summer, and social distancing was something you did out of choice whenever a new Mathew Shardlake title dropped. The Children’s market had just tied a bow on its sixth year of value growth through Nielsen BookScan’s TCM, with 2019’s £387.7m earned a 0.6% jump on the year before. The second half of the 2010s were a golden age for kids’ books, with the sales firepower of David Walliams, Children’s Non-Fiction hiting record highs, and the strength in depth of the picture


book market, anchored by the remarkable consistency of Julia Donaldson (mostly abeted by Axel Scheffler, of course). But can it continue to thrive amid a


04 27th March 2020 0.6%


Rise in TCM value year on year for the Children’s sector in 2019, its sixth consecutive year of growth


£387.7m


TCM value of the Children’s sector in 2019, led by David Walliams, Julia Donaldson and surging non-fiction sales


school-closing global pandemic? For the year to date, some 12.1 million kids’ books have been sold through Nielsen BookScan UK, for £70.3m. This is margin- ally down on the same point last year, by 2.2% in volume and 0.6% in value. As a share of the market as a whole, the children’s sector last year accounted for 34% of print sales in volume terms,


and 23% in value terms. This drag on 2019’s sales isn’t necessarily a cause for concern. In February 2019, Walliams’ Fing had already sold just under a quarter of a million copies and spent two weeks as the overall number one. In fact, with Fing’s sales stripped out, 2020’s kids’ figures would be 1.5% ahead in value and only down in volume by 0.2%—and this year’s springtime Walliams offering is just a handful of weeks away. Sales may even


be boosted by the desperation of home-schooling parents, living through what must be the longest Easter holiday of all time. Similarly, 2019’s World Book Day bestseller, Jeff Kinney’s Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid, spiked higher than this year’s leader, Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet’s Supertato: Books


This year’s springtime Walliams offering is just a handful of weeks away. Sales may even be boosted by the desperation of home- schooling parents...


are Rubbish!, in the week of the annual event. Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid shiſted 72,781 copies to swipe the top spot in 2019, while Books are Rubbish! peaked at 66,601 copies—though both were well ahead of 2018’s snow-hindered Brain Freeze by Tom Fletcher and Greg Abbot, which reached 46,028 copies sold in its best week. As a whole, the 2020 tranche is just about keeping its head above water, with combined sales of 889,799 copies since release—a 4.3% improvement on the 2019 line-up at the same point.


Until the week leading up to 14th March, the 2020 tranche was actually looking strikingly resil- ient. In the week of World Book


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