After a few weeks where sales seemed to be recovering for the top ten, this week dealt a huge blow with an over 15% drop in sales by volume. That nonetheless offered some bright points as Irish authors still held 4 of the top ten spots in the chart but the trend is disappointing.

The array of fiction is again broad, everything from commercial women’s fiction to children’s fiction with crime, literary and fantasy thrown into the mix. The strength of fiction might be more easily understood as the weakness of non-fiction in the first half of 2011 however, especially when the sales figures are so anemic.

All the same it is nice to see Maeve Binchy (why not listen to her talk about Minding Frankie here) in the number one spot.

1: Minding Frankie, Maeve Binchy, 1,573
2: Something from Tiffany’s, Melissa Hill, 1,475
3: A Game of Thrones Book 1 of a Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin, 1,109
4: Madeleine: Our Daughter’s Disappearance and the Continuing Search for Her, Kate McCann, 1,059
5: Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann, 996
6: The Confession, John Grisham, 882
7: Miracle Cure, Harlan Coben, 818
8: Stand by Me, Sheila O’Flanagan, 790
9: Water For Elephants, Sarah Gruen, 780
10: Rodrick Rules:Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney, 683

Top Ten Dynamics
IPN is running a top ten dynamics section looking at the top ten with some data drawn out. Nothing too dramatic, but useful nonetheless.

Volume: 10165 Units
Decrease since last week: 1,873 units
% Decrease since last week: 15.56%
Average Units Per Title: 1017

~~
Fiction: 9 titles, 9,106 units or 89.58%, RRP £8.55
Non-Fiction: 1 titles, 1,059 units or 10.42%, RRP £14.99

~~
Authors: 10
Irish Authors: 4, 40%
Irish Published Books: 0, 0%

~~
Average RRP: £9.19
Decrease in RRP since last week: £0.60
% Decrease in RRP since last week: 6.13%*
*It is important to note that RRP does not reflect actually selling price.

Image Credit:

Colum McCann. European Graduate School, www.egs.edu/, Photograph by Hendrik Speck, www.hendrikspeck.com/, Source: www.flickr.com/photos/hendrikspeck/

Data Supplied by Nielsen BookScan taken from the Irish Consumer Market week ending 25th June 2011

Colum McCann has won the 2011 IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize for his novel Let The Great World Spin. The award, the richest in the book world, carries a €100,000 prize for the winner.

McCann was born in Ireland but has lived in the United States since the mid-1990s. He defeated nine other authors including Colm Tóibín and William Trevor to gain the prize.

His book had previously won the National Book Award in the United States in 2009.

There’s an excellent feature piece with Eileen Battersby in today’s Irish Times:

Books were always at hand. His father, Seán McCann, was the features editor at the Irish Press . “He would give me a book and say ‘here, have a look at this’. I was always reading, everything, Kerouac. It was great. Then I decided I would write the great Irish novel but I couldn’t. I wasn’t messed-up enough. I was this middle class boy from the Clonkeen Road and had had a happy childhood.”

Image Credit:

Colum McCann. European Graduate School, www.egs.edu/, Photograph by Hendrik Speck,www.hendrikspeck.com/, Source: www.flickr.com/photos/hendrikspeck/

10 novels have been shortlisted for the International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award, from a total of 162 novels nominated by 166 public library systems in 126 cities worldwide. The award offers one of the largest prizes in the literary world, worth a staggering €100,000 .

For the first time, the shortlist includes novels by three Irish authors; Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, Brooklyn by Colm Toibín and Love and Summer by William Trevor.

The Lord Mayor of Dublin Gerry Breen, Patron of the Award, officially confirmed the titles on this year’s shortlist, nominated by public libraries in Australia, Barbados, Belgium, Canada, England, Germany, Greece, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Scotland, South Africa, Switzerland, and the USA. Three Australian authors have also been short listed – David Malouf, Craig Silvey and Evie Wyld.

Both David Malouf (Remembering Babylon) and Colm Toibín (The Master) are previous winners of the award in 1996 and 2006 respectively. In all there are 5 previous winners on the 2011 longlist; the others are Orhan Pamuk, Tahar Ben Jalloun and Javier Marias.

‘It’s a wonderful coincidence that so shortly after Dublin being awarded UNESCO City of Literature status, three of the ten novels on the IMPAC DUBLIN Award shortlist should be by Irish authors,’ said Breen. ‘I wish all the shortlisted authors well and remind Dubliners that the shortlisted novels are all available to borrow from Dublin City public libraries, so there is time to read them all and pick your own favourite, between now and 15 June when I announce the Award winner.’

The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is managed by Dublin City Libraries, on behalf of Dublin City Council. It is sponsored by IMPAC, an international management productivity company with its European headquarters in Dublin.

The Award is presented annually with the objective of promoting excellence in world literature. It is open to novels written in any language and by authors of any nationality, provided the work has been published in English or English translation in the specified time period as outlined in the rules and conditions for the year. Nominations are submitted by library systems in major cities throughout the world.

Recent previous winners of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award include, The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker (2010) Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas (2009), De Niro’s Game by Rawi Hage (2008), and Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (2007)

The judges for 2011 are John Boyne, Susan Bassnett, Tessa Hadley, Nancy Huston, Michael Hofmann and the panel is chaired by Hon. Eugene R. Sullivan.

The full shortlist of titles is below:
Galore by Michael Crummey (Canadian). Doubleday Canada
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (American). Faber & Faber, HarperCollins, USA
The Vagrants by Yiyn Li (Chinese / American) Random House, USA
Ransom by David Malouf (Australian) Random House Australia
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (Irish) Bloomsbury, UK, Random House, USA
Little Bird of Heaven by Joyce Carol Oates (American) Ecco Press, USA
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey (Australian) Allen & Unwin
Brooklyn by Colm Toibín (Irish) Viking UK, Scribner, USA
Love and Summer by William Trevor (Irish) Viking, UK
After the Fire, a Still, Small Voice by Evie Wyld (Australian) Pantheon Books, USA

William Trevor, Colum McCann, Colm Toibin and Peter Murphy have made the longlist for the International Dublin IMPAC Literary Award 2011.

Margaret Hayes, Dublin City Librarian announced that a total of 162 titles have been nominated for the €100,000 Award, the world’s most valuable annual literary prize for a single work of fiction published in English. ‘In the year when Dublin was designated as a City of Literature by UNESCO, it is wonderful that four Irish authors have been nominated for the €100,000 Award next year’, she said. ‘Two of the Irish authors were also the most popular choices by libraries worldwide, with Colum McCann’s novel receiving 14 nominations and Colm Tóibín receiving 13 nominations.’

The 162 eligible nominations come from 126 cities and 43 countries worldwide. 42 are titles in translation, spanning 14 languages and 35 are first novels.

The shortlist will be made public on 12th April 2011 and the Lord Mayor will announce the winner on 15th June.

The 2011 Judging Panel includes Irish author, John Boyne; Susan Bassnett, British writer, translator and academic; Nancy Huston, Canadian / French author; Michael Hofman, German poet and translator and Tessa Hadley, Welsh author and academic. The Non-voting Chairperson is Eugene R. Sullivan.

The complete longlist can be viewed or downloaded here.

The shortlist for the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards was announced this evening at an event in the Royal College Of Physicians on Kildare Street.

Among those nominated are, Ryan Tubridy, Joseph O’Connor, Roddy Doyle, Colm Toibin, Colum McCann, Paul Murrary and Booker shortlisted, Emma Donoghue.

Tom Owens, Trading Director, Eason and Chairman of the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards, said, ‘The new look Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards is a welcome leap forward for the Irish book sector. These industry-wide awards allow us to showcase the rich and diverse selection of Irish writing available and we are proud to say that 2010 has produced a fine selection of books that would rival any on the world stage. In these difficult times, nothing represents value for money better than a book and it is important to use these awards as a platform to celebrate our Irish authors and recognise their talent.’

Public Voting
From today, the public are being asked to cast their vote on the best books of the last year via the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards website www.irishbookawards.ie and every person who votes will be in with a chance of winning one of five €100 National Book Token vouchers.

To help readers a free Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards 2010 magazine will be available in book retailers throughout the country. Votes can be cast until midnight November 21st 2010.

Publishing Companies
With some eleven nominations between their Irish and UK imprints, Penguin leads the shortlists, with Hachette scoring an impressive eight nominations though with two nominations for Orion titles, the wider Hachette group actually comes quite close to equalling Penguin.

Irish publishers have not been ignored either with titles by O’Brien, Mercier, Liberties, Gill & Macmillan, Brandon and The History Press, Ireland all included.

Self-Publisher, Benji Bennet is also nominated for his Adam’s Pirate Treasure.

Lifetime Achievement Award
The winners will be announced at an awards dinner which takes place in The Mansion House on November 25th 2010. As part of the ceremony, novelist Maeve Binchy will also be presented with a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award in Irish Literature’. Former recipients of this accolade include Edna O’Brien, William Trevor and John McGahern.

The full list of categories and nominees is below:

Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year
Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann, Bloomsbury
Brooklyn, Colm Toibin, Viking
Skippy Dies, Paul Murray, Hamish Hamilton
Ghost Light, Joseph O’Connor, Harvill Secker
The Dead Republic, Roddy Doyle, Cape
Room, Emma Donoghue, Pan Macmillan

Argosy Irish Nonfiction Book of the Year
Wasters, Shane Ross and Nick Webb, Penguin Ireland
Who Really Runs Ireland, Matt Cooper, Penguin Ireland
Ship of Fools, Fintan O’Toole, Faber
At Five in the Afternoon, Michael Murphy, Brandon
A Coward if I Return, A Hero if I Fall, Neil Richardson, O’Brien Press
JFK in Ireland: Four Days that Changed a President, Ryan Tubridy, Collins

Ireland AM Crime Fiction Book of the Year
City of Lost Girls, Declan Hughes, John Murray
Time of Death, Alex Barclay, Harper Collins
Faithful Place, Tana French, Hachette Books Ireland
The Missing, Jane Casey, Ebury
Dark Times in the City, Gene Kerrigan, Vintage
The Twelve, Stuart Neville , Vintage

Easons Popular Fiction Book of the Year
Stand By Me, Sheila O’Flanagan, Headline
Pieces of my Heart, Sinead Moriarty, Penguin Ireland
Hello, Heartbreak, Amy Huberman, Penguin Ireland
At Home with the Templetons, Monica McInerney, Pan Macmillan
The Oh My God Delusion, Ross O’Carroll Kelly, Penguin Ireland
Homecoming, Cathy Kelly, Harper Collins

Best Newcomer of the Year
The Twelve, Stuart Neville, Vintage
JFK in Ireland: Four Days that Changed a President, Ryan Tubridy, Collins
The Soldier’s Song, Alan Monaghan, Pan Macmillan
Not Untrue and Not Unkind, Ed O’Loughlin, Penguin Ireland
If I Never See You Again, Niamh O’Connor, Transworld
Hello, Heartbreak, Amy Huberman, Penguin Ireland

IES Best Irish-published Book of the Year
Strangest Genius; the Stained Glass of Harry Clarke, Lucy Costigan & Michael Cullen, History Press
Vanishing Ireland: Further Chronicles of a Disappearing World, Turtle Bunbury & James Fennell, Hachette Books Ireland
Good Mood Food, Donal Skehan, Mercier Press
From the Republic of Conscience Stories Inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Various, Liberties Press
Catherine’s Italian Kitchen, Catherine Fulvio, Gill & Macmillan
The Beaut.ie Guide to Gorgeous, Aisling McDermott , Gill & Macmillan

DAA Childrens Book of the Year
Junior
Adam’s Pirate Treasure, Benji Bennett, Adams Printing Press
The Heart and the Bottle, Oliver Jeffers, Harper Collins Children’s Books
On the Road with Mavis and Marge, Niamh Sharkey, Walker Books
Alfie Green and the Chocolate Cosmos, Joe O’Brien, O’Brien Press

Senior
Ask Amy Green: Bridesmaid Blitz, Sarah Webb, Walker Books
Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Coil, Derek Landy, Harper Collins Children’s Books
Timecatcher, Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick, Orion
Noah Barleywater Runs Away, John Boyne, David Fickling

Energise Sport Irish Sports Book of the Year
A Football Man, John Giles, Hachette Books Ireland
Screaming at the Sky, Tony Griffin, Transworld Ireland
The Ecstasy and the Agony, Damien Tiernan, Hachette Books Ireland
Lansdowne Road – The Stadium, The Matches, The Greatest Days, Gerard Siggins & Malachy Clerkin, O’Brien Press
Come What May, Donal Og Cusack, Penguin Ireland
Ruby: The Autobiography, Ruby Walsh, Orion

The John Murray Show Listeners’ Choice Award
Freedom, Jonathan Franzen, Fourth Estate
The Slap, Christos Tsiolkas, Tuskar Rock
A Journey, Tony Blair, Hutchinson
At Five in the Afternoon, Michael Murphy, Brandon
The Book of Tomorrow, Cecelia Ahern, Harper Collins
Come What May, Donal Og Cusack, Penguin Ireland

A combination of Ghost Light sales slowing and Stieg Larsson hold steady means that Jospeh O’Connor‘s run at the top end of the charts is heading for an end.
I’ll be interested to see how long he now stays in the top ten and whether nominations for any of the upcoming prizes re-energize his sales. Colum McCann‘s paperback edition of Let The Great World Spin is selling nicely and, alongside Maeve Binchy, he rounds out the Irish contingent in the top ten.

1: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson, 1,710
2: The Help, Kathryn Stockett, 1,682
3: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest, Stieg Larsson, 1,541
4: Picture Perfect, Jodi Picoult, 1,467
5: Ghost Light, Joseph O’Connor, 1,449
6: The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson, 1,399
7: Broken, Karin Slaughter, 1,280
8: The Return Journey, Maeve Binchy, 1,249
9: Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann, 1,241
10: Stolen, Lesley Pearse, 1,124

Data Supplied by Nielsen BookScan taken from the Irish Consumer Market week ending 10th July 2010

The most notable feature of the top ten this week is its remarkable stability.

The same few titles seem to be rotate around the top slots and have done for the last few weeks. Binchy, O’Connor, Stockett, Picoult are all solid names on the list, so too the seemingly unceasingly popular Larsson.

The arrival in the top ten this week of Amanda Brunker and the return of McCann brings the Irish author contingent to 40% which is no mean feat.

1: The Help, Kathryn Stockett, 1,934
2: Ghost Light, Joseph O’Connor, 1,720
3: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson, 1,683
4: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest Stieg Larsson, 1,599
5: Picture Perfect, Jodi Picoult, 1,527
6: The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson, 1,421
7: Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella, Meyer, Stephenie, 1,283
8: The Return Journey, Binchy, Maeve, 1,265
9: Champagne Secrets, Amanda Brunker, 1,195
10: Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann, 1,050

Data Supplied by Nielsen BookScan taken from the Irish Consumer Market week ending 17th July 2010

John Banville has won the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award 2010 at the opening of 2010′s Listowel Writers’ Week. He was award a cheque of €15,000 at a ceremoney in the town last night.

Banville’s book, Infinities, was chosen from a shortlist that included Colum McCann’s Let The Great World Spin and Ed O’Loughlin’s Not Untrue & Not Unkind.

The judges for the competition were Giles Foden and Kate O’Toole.

John Banville, Nick Laird, Colum McCann, John McKenna and Ed O’Loughlin have been shortlisted for the 2010 Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award.

Actress Kate O’Toole and author Giles Foden are the adjudicators. The winner will be announced on 2nd June at official opening of the Listowel Writers Week Festival.

The Shortlist
The Infinities by John Banville
Glover’s Mistake by Nick Laird
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
The Space Between Us by John McKenna
Not True & Not Unkind by Ed O’Loughlin

The O’Brien Press and Northern Ireland based Guildhall Press have both launched simultaneous paperback and Kindle versions of new titles.

Pricing
O’Brien Press made Niall O’Dowd‘s American Voice available on the Kindle priced at $19.58 including VAT and international delivery via Amazon’s Whispernet service. Guildhall released Garbhan Downey‘s The American Envoy on the Kindle at $10.52.

According to O’Brien the list price for the Kindle edition is $17.99 or €13.12, cheaper than the list price for print of €14.99, and that is what readers in the United States pay for their books.

Irish customers however are required to pay both VAT and international delivery fees, pushing the price to $21.58 or €14.25 which is a considerable premium to the print price currently available on the O’Brien website, €11.99 (including a Paddy’s Day 20% discount), though delivery costs for the print book drive the inclusive price to €14.69.

Guildhall’s list price for the print version of The American Envoy is £6.95 or €7.67 and the price including delivery in Ireland is £9.75 or €10.76. The Kindle price is $10.52 or €7.65 making their Kindle version considerably cheaper than the delivered paper book.

Independent Authors
Although several independent authors have made editions of their books available via Kindle devices, O’Brien and Guildhall are believed to be the first to make newly released titles available simultaneously with the release of the paperback.

In January, Irish Publishing News featured a guest column by Sheila O’Kelly who was both a proud Kindle Owner and a kindle published author via Smashwords