Fiction dominates the list this week. Strong sales for established Irish female authors and a few old favourites like Grisham and Picoult. The presence of Martin in the Top Ten is all about the release of the fifth book, which, along with the buzz built up through the HBO series for his books, has ignited sales for the backlist.

1: All for You, Sheila O’Flanagan, 1,545
2: Minding Frankie, Maeve Binchy, 1,087
3: Something from Tiffany’s, Melissa Hill, 1,041
4: A Game of Thrones Book 1 of a Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin,1,032
5: One Day, David Nicholls, 1,016
6: The Midwife’s Confession, Diane Chamberlain, 860
7: A Tiny Bit Marvellous, Dawn French, 857
8: The Confession, John Grisham, 855
9: Harvesting The Heart, Jodi Picoult, 854
10: Stand By Me, Sheila O’Flanagan, 831

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: 9,978 Units
Decrease since last week: -549 units
% Decrease since last week: -5.22%
Average Units Per Title: 998

~~
Fiction: 10 titles, 9,978 units or 100%, RRP £9.19
Non-Fiction: 0 titles, 0 units or 0%, RRP £0

~~
Authors: 10
Irish Authors: 3(4), 40% (One Irish Author is in the Top Ten, Twice)
Irish Published Books: 0, 0%

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

Data Supplied by Nielsen BookScan taken from the Irish Consumer Market week ending 9th July 2011

Not a terrible week for book sales, at least in the top ten. There was a slight recovery on last week and the average sale per title is up a little because of that. It’s also nice to see there are still four Irish authors in the top ten.

Fiction is still holding off non-fiction almost entirely. Kate McCann’s book is falling down the list and when it drops out of the top ten, I wonder will it be replaced by fiction or non-fiction, I expect fiction.

1: All for You, Sheila O’Flanagan, 1486
2: Broken, Karin Slaughter, 1,240
3: The Midwife’s Confession, Diane Chamberlain, 1,140
4: Something from Tiffany’s, Melissa Hill, 1,100
5: Minding Frankie, Maeve Binchy, 1,073
6: Harvesting The Heart, Jodi Picoult, 974
7: Madeleine: Our Daughter’s Disappearance and the Continuing Search for Her, Kate McCann, 931
8: A Game of Thrones Book 1 of a Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin, 879
9: Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann, 878
10: The Confession, John Grisham, 826

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: 10527 Units
Increase since last week: 362 units
% Increase since last week: 3.56%
Average Units Per Title: 1052

~~
Fiction: 9 titles, 9,596 units or 89.58%, RRP £7.44
Non-Fiction: 1 titles, 939 units or 8.84%, RRP £14.99

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

~~
Average RRP: £9.79
Increase in RRP since last week: £0.60
% Increase in RRP since last week: 6.53%*
*It is important to note that RRP does not reflect actually selling price.

Data Supplied by Nielsen BookScan taken from the Irish Consumer Market week ending 2nd July 2011
Image Credit:
Some rights reserved by DeKalb County Public Library

As previously noted, IPN is running a little behind on its Top Ten analysis. This post and a further one later today will bring the site up to date.

On a personal note it’s great to see Jeffery Archer in a bestseller list. His books were a mainstay of my younger reading life and anyone who looks down their nose at his work doesn’t understand the compelling nature of his writing or the power of a pacy thriller.

Aside from that the week, while not incredible, marks a slightly bright note in book sales. For one thing more than one non-fiction titles made the top ten, the first Kate McCann’s book which is still selling well, the second a somewhat surprising arrival, is Edmund De Waal’s The Hare With Amber Eyes. While it is a winner of the Costa Biography award, it still seems a little strange that it has worked in Ireland.

Of course, fiction still dominates and in a board sweep includes commercial women’s fiction, fantasy, children’s, crime and literary fiction. The average sales per title in the top ten also crept up and with Hill and McCann’s total’s dropping a little,  other titles did a little better.

If this kind of week were to be the base for an improvement, then most booksellers and publishers would be happy.
1: Something from Tiffany’s, Melissa Hill, 2,162
2: Madeleine: Our Daughter’s Disappearance and the Continuing Search for Her, Kate McCann, 1,586
3: The Confession, John Grisham, 1,495
4: Stand by Me, Sheila O’Flanagan, 1,001
5: Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen, 925
6: The Hare with Amber Eyes:A Hidden Inheritance, Edmund De Waal, 914
7: A Game of Thrones Book 1 of a Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin, 805
8: Rodrick Rules: Diary of a Wimpy Kid:Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney, 772
9: The Moment, Douglas Kennedy, 665
10: Only Time Will Tell, Jeffery Archer, 623

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: 10,948 Units
Increase since last week: 432 units
% Increase since last week: 4.11%
Average Units Per Title: 1095

~~
Fiction: 8 titles, 8,448 units or 77.16%, RRP £9.62
Non-Fiction: 2 titles, 2,500 units or 22.84%, RRP £11.99

~~
Authors: 10
Irish Authors: 2, 20%
Irish Published Books: 0, 0%

~~
Average RRP: £10.09
Increase in RRP since last week: £0.30
% Increase in RRP since last week: 3.06%*
*It is important to note that RRP does not reflect actually selling price.

Data Supplied by Nielsen BookScan taken from the Irish Consumer Market week ending 11th June 2011
Image Credit
Some rights reserved by icantcu

Our top ten listing is running a little behind so over the next few days we’ll be rolling out about four of them. Enjoy.

A massive week again for Kate McCann’s book on her daughter’s disappearance. Some decent sales too for the rest of the top five, but the fall away is after that dramatic.

1: Madeleine: Our Daughter’s Disappearance and the Continuing Search for Her, Kate McCann, 3,081
2: Something from Tiffany’s, Melissa Hill, 1,004
3: The Distant Hours, Kate Morton, 983
4: Stand by Me, Sheila O’Flanagan, 973
5: Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen, 894
6: A Game of Thrones Book 1 of a Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin, 713
7: The Family, Martina Cole, 708
8: The Moment, Douglas Kennedy, 633
9: Port Mortuary, Patricia Cornwell, 588
10: Room, Emma Donoghue, 550

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: 10,127 Units
Decrease since last week: 844 units
% decrease since last week: 7.69%
Average Units Per Title: 1013

~~
Fiction: 9 titles, 7,046 units or 69.58%, RRP £8.88
Non-Fiction: 1 titles, 3,081 units or 30.421%, RRP £14.99

~~
Authors: 10
Irish Authors: 3, 30%
Irish Published Books: 0, 0%

~~
Average RRP: £9.49
Decrease in RRP since last week: £0.10
% Increase in RRP since last week: -1.05%*
*It is important to note that RRP does not reflect actually selling price.

Data Supplied by Nielsen BookScan taken from the Irish Consumer Market week ending 28th May 2011

If last week was the story of Kate McCann’s book then this week is once again the story of that book. Sales of that title are up 23.07% week-on-week. The flip side of that is that the rest of the top ten suffered a drop in sales, whereas last week the other nine titles accounted for some 7,285 units, this week the other nine clocked up only 6,538 a 747 or 10.25% drop in their share.

What’s more the week also save the dropping out of the top ten of several Irish authors and one (or two depending on your view) Irish publishers. Not a fantastic week for Irish writers then as only one remains in the top ten.

side from the McCann book the overriding theme is the continued strength of fiction which accounts of nine of the top ten titles.

1: Madeleine: Our Daughter’s Disappearance and the Continuing Search for Her, Kate McCann, 4,433
2: Stand by Me, Sheila O’Flanagan, 1,061
3: Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen, 917
4: The Family, Martina Cole, 839
5: The Distant Hours, Kate Morton, 708
6: The Moment, Douglas Kennedy, 673
7: A Game Of Thrones, George RR Martin, 617
8: Port Mortuary, Patricia Cornwell, 598
9: The Fifth Witness, Michael Connelly, 563
10: The Slap, Christos Tsiolkas, 562

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: 10,971 Units
Increase since last week: 84 units
% decrease since last week: .77%
Average Units Per Title: 1097

~~
Fiction: 9 titles, 6,538 units or 59.59%, RRP £8.99
Non-Fiction: 1 titles, 4,433 units or 40.41%, RRP £14.99

~~
Authors: 10
Irish Authors: 1, 10%
Irish Published Books: 0, 0%

~~
Average RRP: £9.59
Increase in RRP since last week: £0.40
% Increase in RRP since last week: -4.00%*
*It is important to note that RRP does not reflect actually selling price.

Data Supplied by Nielsen BookScan taken from the Irish Consumer Market week ending 21st May 2011
Image Credits
Some rights reserved by mt 23

Another week of fiction’s domination of the top ten. Though that comes with a health warning, the level of sales for the top ten is down some way since last week and only one title breaks the 1,000 unit barrier, Sheial O’Flanagan’s Stand By Me.

This week’s chart also shows the influence of TV and film. George RR Martin’s A Game Of Thrones, the first in his A Song Of Ice & Fire series, makes the top ten by dint of the success of the new TV series. Likewise, Water For Elephants which has been a sort of slow burning hit, kept rolling by book clubs and word of mouth has hit the top ten due to the forthcoming film.

One of the impacts of this film and TV invasion is that the Irish author cohort has reduced somewhat to only 50% of the top ten.

1: Stand by Me, Sheila O’Flanagan, 1,027
2: Ghost Light, Joseph O’Conor, 939
3: The Fifth Witness, Michael Connelly, 832
4: Love and Marriage, Patricia Scanlan, 659
5: Sing You Home, Jodi Picoult, 655
6: The Slap, Christos Tsiolkas, 602
7: Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?, Claudia Carroll, 584
8: Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen, 542
9: Room, Emma Donoghue, 535
10: A Game of Thrones, George RR Martin, 508

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: 6,883 Units
Decrease since last week: 3,119 units
% decrease since last week: 31.18%

~~
Fiction: 10 titles, 6,883 units or 100%, RRP £10.19
Non-Fiction: 0 titles, 0 units or 0%, RRP £0

~~
Authors: 10 (one book is co-authored)
Irish Authors: 5, 50%
Irish Published Books: 0, 0%

~~
Average RRP: £10.19
Increase in RRP since last week: 0
% Increase in RRP since last week: -0%*
*It is important to note that RRP does not reflect actually selling price.

Data Supplied by Nielsen BookScan taken from the Irish Consumer Market week ending 30th April 2011
Image Credits
Some rights reserved by icantcu

A disappointing top ten this week, though Ghost Light is doing fairly well, no doubt boosted by the ongoing One City One Book campaign. Mary McEvoy’s memoir, dealing with her battle with depression, is the sole non-fiction title in the top ten this week though Philomena Lynott’s book on her son was pushed just outside to number 11.

1: Ghost Light, Joseph O’Connor, 1,644
2: Love and Marriage, Patricia Scanlan, 1,149
3: Fifth Witness, Michael Connelly, 812
4: How the Light Gets in:My Journey with Depression, Mary McEvoy, 756
5: Sing You Home, Jodi Picoult, 734
6: Homecoming, Cathy Kelly, 720
7: Room, Emma Donoghue, 709
8: The Slap, Christos Tsiolkas, 699
9: Stand by Me, Sheila O’Flanagan, 690
10: The Brightest Star in the Sky, Marian Keyes, 637

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: 8,850 Units
Decrease since last week: -1,181 units
% decrease since last week: -12.14%

~~
Fiction: 9 titles, 7794 units or 91.16%, RRP £9.77
Non-Fiction: 1 titles, 756 units or 8.84%, RRP £13.99

~~
Authors: 10 (one book is co-authored)
Irish Authors: 8, 80%
Irish Published Books: 0, 0%

~~
Average RRP: £10.19
Increase in RRP since last week: -£1.20
% Increase in RRP since last week: -10.54%*
*It is important to note that RRP does not reflect actually selling price.

Data Supplied by Nielsen BookScan taken from the Irish Consumer Market week ending 16th April 2011

After a bumper week of sales for mother’s day, it was inevitable that the top ten would see some fall back, and it did. Sales fell by just under half for the top ten titles, dramatic but not as scary as it might seem.

Strong sales still for Patricia Scanlan, Joseph O’Connor, Cathy Kelly and Christos Tsiolkas. Rachel Allen’s Entertaining at Home is selling fantastically well at 9.99 and suggests that perhaps the market is keen for bargains.

Several titles performed well and there were two Irish published titles in the top ten, a rare enough occurrence.

1: Love and Marriage, Patricia Scanlan, 1,822
2: Ghost Light, Joseph O’Connor, 1,551
3: Homecoming, Cathy Kelly, 1,105
4: The Slap, Christos Tsiolkas, 1,039
5: Entertaining at Home, Rachel Allen, 759
6: The Brightest Star In The Sky, Marian Keyes, 752
7: Room, Emma Donoghue, 732
8: My Boy:The Philip Lynott Story:Fully Updated with Remarkable New Revelations, Philomena Lynott & Jackie Hayden, 715
9: 9th Judgement, James Patterson, 685
10: Little Fighters:The Million to One Miracles, Angie Benhaffaff, 571

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: 9,731 Units
Increase since last week: 9,245 units
% decrease since last week: -48.72%

~~
Fiction: 7 titles, 7,686 units or 78.98%, RRP £8.70
Non-Fiction: 3 titles, 2,045 units or 21.02%, RRP £17.66 (though we know Allen’s cookbook is retailing at €9.99 in Eason)

~~
Authors: 11 (one book is co-authored)
Irish Authors: 9, 81.81%
Irish Published Books: 2, 20%

~~
Average RRP: £11.39
Increase in RRP since last week: +£0.20
% Increase in RRP since last week: 1.79%*
*It is important to note that RRP does not reflect actually selling price.

Data Supplied by Nielsen BookScan taken from the Irish Consumer Market week ending 9th April 2011

Mother’s Day clearly worked wonders for book sales, and the winner, as seems to be the case at the moment, was fiction. Patricia Scanlan sold a positively Christmas-like 5,759 units last week, while Joseph O’Connor (aided no doubt by the One City One Book status) sold 2,500. Cathy Kelly also scored 2,305 sales.

The top ten as a whole was much stronger than last week rising by an impressive 65%. The sales were reflected in the UK too where Jean M Auel’s latest sold well.

The strength of the top ten was reflected in the next ten too with some well-known authors like Jamie Oliver, James Patterson and Melissa Hill just missing out on the top ten.

1: Love and Marriage, Patricia Scanlan, 5,759
2: Ghost Light, Joseph O’Connor, 2,500
3: Homecoming, Cathy Kelly, 2,305
4: The Brightest Star In The Sky, Marian Keyes, 1,654
5: Entertaining at Home, Rachel Allen, 1,411
6: Two Stories: A Girl in the Mirror,The AND The Memory Maker, Cecelia Ahern, 1,337
7: Room, Emma Donoghue, 1,226
8: The Slap, Christos Tsiolkas, 964
9: Minding Frankie, Maeve Binchy, 955
10: My Boy:The Philip Lynott Story:Fully Updated with Remarkable New Revelations, Philomena Lynott & Jackie Hayden, 865

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: 18,976 Units
Increase since last week: 7,507 units
% increase since last week: +65.45%

~~
Fiction: 8 titles, 16,700 units or 88.01%, RRP £9.24
Non-Fiction: 2 titles, 2,276 units or 11.99%, RRP £19.00 (though we know Allen’s cookbook is retailing at €9.99 in Eason)

~~
Authors: 11 (one book is co-authored)
Irish Authors: 10, 72.72%
Irish Published Books: 1, 90.9%

~~
Average RRP: £11.19
Increase in RRP since last week: +£1.24
% Increase in RRP since last week: 21.11%*
*It is important to note that RRP does not reflect actually selling price.

Data Supplied by Nielsen BookScan taken from the Irish Consumer Market week ending 2nd April 2011.

As with last week, there is a very strong Irish representation in the top ten. Patricia Scanlan, Cathy Kelly and Joseph O’Connor’s sales combined with still healthy sales for a number of other Irish and foreign authors drove volume in the top ten higher by 30%. With O’Connor’s Ghost Light entering it’s month as the One City One Book choice, I suspect its sales will continue to hold up.

The weakness of non-fiction is reinforced by the fact that one of the two non-fiction titles in the mix is only there because of it’s heavily discounted pricing in Eason, a demonstration if you like of two features of Irish bookselling; the first, that Eason CAN move the market and the second, that large discounts shifts volume.

Given that and given the increase in RRP, these figures don’t actually say much about the health of the market, as Average Selling Price MUST be lower than the indicated RRP of £11.39.

1:Love and Marriage, Patricia Scanlan, 3,263
2: Homecoming, Cathy Kelly, 1,284
3: Ghost Light, Joseph O’Connor, 1,134
4: The Brightest Star in the Sky, Marian Keyes, 947
5: 10th Anniversary, James Patterson, 915
6: Room, Emma Donoghue, 889
7: Entertaining at Home, Rachel Allen, 873
8: The Slap, Christos Tsiolkas, 789
9: One Day, David Nicholls, 709
10: My Boy: The Philip Lynott Story, Philomena Lynott & Jackie Hayden, 666

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: 11,469 Units
Increase since last week: 2,649
% increase since last week: +30.3%

~~
Fiction: 8 titles, 9,930 units or 86.58%, RRP £9.24
Non-Fiction: 2 titles, 1,539 units or 13.42%, RRP £20.00 (though we know Allen’s cookbook is retailing at €9.99 in Eason)

~~
Authors: 11 (one book is co-authored)
Irish Authors: 8, 72.72%
Irish Published Books: 1, 10%

~~
Average RRP: £11.39
Increase in RRP since last week: £0.80
% Increase in RRP since last week: 7.55%

Data Supplied by Nielsen BookScan taken from the Irish Consumer Market week ending 26th March 2011
Correction:
In last week’s post about the Irish Top ten we stated that none of teh Top Ten has been published by an Irish publisher, in fact,  number 10 that week (as is the case this week) My Boy: The Philip Lynott Story, was published by Hot Press Books, an imprint of Hot Press Magazine, an Irish Publisher.