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YA decline of 22% explained by absence of TV/Film Tie-Ins

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The children’s book market grew by a modest 0.7% last year.
The YA sector declined 22% – “The main reason the category has declined so much is because 2017 had a lot of TV and film adaptations helping to drive sales, like Nicola Yoon’s Everything Everything (Corgi) and Jay Asher’s 13 Reasons Why”
Non-fiction saved the day, up by an impressive 31%, thanks to titles such as Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls and, I would add, some lovely books from the likes of Wide Eyed and Wren&Rook…

The children’s market has shown overall growth of 0.7% by value, driven by children’s nonfiction sales, which were up 10.2%. In the nonfiction category, sales of books categorised as ‘general nonfiction’ increased by 31% compared to the same time last year, with Bookseller charts and data editor Kiera O’Brien attributing this growth to the success of 2017’s Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls (Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo, Particular Books). According to O’Brien, the rise in popularity of similar general nonfiction titles such as Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different (Ben Brooks & Quinton Winter, Quercus), which sold 48,738 copies, and You Are Awesome (Matthew Syed, Wren & Rook), which sold 68,752 copies, is ‘unmistakable’.In fiction, picture books experienced their fifth consecutive year of value growth, increasing by 2% on last year, while children’s fiction sales were steady, with 0.05% growth. YA sales were down in 2018, reporting a decrease of 22%. ‘The main reason the category has declined so much is because 2017 had a lot of TV and film adaptations helping to drive sales, like Nicola Yoon’s Everything Everything (Corgi) and Jay Asher’s 13 Reasons Why (Puffin),’ said O’Brien.

via UK children’s book market reports growth; YA down 22%, children’s nonfiction up 10.2% | Books+Publishing.

Children’s Booksellers End 2016 on an Up Note

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Some interesting stats, figures and trends in this Publishers Weekly report…

Although middle grade and YA series have frequently topped in-store bestsellers lists for the holidays, sales at indies for the two biggest long-time franchises, Wimpy Kid (Abrams/Amulet) and Harry Potter (Scholastic/Levine), were mixed. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts 1 and 2 was the number one bestseller for 2016 at Brookline Booksmith. At Powell’s City of Books in Portland, Ore., two Harry Potter titles—Cursed Child and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them—and Wimpy Kid #11, Double Down, took three of the top four spots in children’s holiday bestsellers.

But many smaller stores reported softer sales for both the latest Jeff Kinney book and for the Fantastic Beasts screenplay. That was the case at 10-year-old Harleysville Books in Harleysville, Pa., which gets 60% of its sales from children’s books. “This year’s Wimpy Kid was the slowest one we had. In years’ past, I ordered by the case,” said owner Stephanie Steinly, whose customers also had trouble with the format of Fantastic Beasts. By contrast, the two Harry Potter books illustrated by Jim Kay were “successful”—last year’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and October’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

With no single “it” book, a mix of titles did well. At Kids Ink, Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney’s 2005 picture book The Old African (Dial) was one of Mullin’s big books of the season. She also did particularly well with books by authors who had visited the store. Gingerbread Christmas (Putnam) by Jan Brett, who drew 400 people for an event during the holiday season, was her top seller. Inkwood Books in Tampa, Fla., which is more than half children’s books, had strong sales for picture books over the holidays. Owner Stefani Beddington sold “a ton” of The Story Book Knight (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky). She noted that it is written by the same authors, Helen Docherty and Thomas Docherty, as The Snatchabook (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky), which continues to do well.

The bestselling kids’ book at Lemuria Books in Jackson, Miss., was also a picture book by an author who visited the store—twice: William Joyce’s Ollie’s Odyssey (S&S/Atheneum/Dlouhy). “We had some amazing turnouts for our children’s events,” said Clara Martin, children’s buyer for the children’s section, which is known as OZ. Other top sellers included the Fan Brothers’ picture book The Night Gardener (Simon & Schuster), which was a pick for the OZ First Editions Club, and two middle-grade novels: Trenton Lee Stewart’s The Secret Keepers (Little, Brown, and Kate Beasley’s middle-grade novel Gertie’s Leap to Greatness (FSG).

Andrea Beaty and David Roberts’s picture book Ada Twist, Scientist (Abrams) appeared on a number of in-store bestsellers lists, including Skylight in Los Angeles, where manager Steven Salardino reported that it was the fourth biggest-selling children’s title. Jon Klassen’s We Found a Hat (Candlewick) was an “expected” hit, said Salardino, who called Klassen’s hat trilogy “amazing.”

via Children’s Booksellers End 2016 on an Up Note.

Children’s 2016 print book market up 11.7% to date and set to be biggest year for children’s books for the third year in a row

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booksellerThe children’s print book market is on course for an 11.7% increase to a full year value of £394m this year if sales continue at the same pace – making 2016 the biggest year for children’s books for the third year in a row.

The Bookseller’s charts editor Kiera O’Brien delivered the sales data derived from Nielsen BookScan today (27th September) at The Bookseller Children’s Conference in London, whilst also revealing that J K Rowling is on course to become the bestselling author of 2016.

Children’s print sales for 2016 are looking very positive so far, O’Brien said, totaling £209m for the 2016 year to date (34 weeks ending 27th August 2016), up £21.8m compared to the same period in 2015. According to O’Brien, this is 24% of the entire print market and is ahead of adult fiction by £3m. In volume terms, children’s publishing is 33% of the entire print market, meaning one in every three books sold so far this year has been a children’s book.

If sales continue at the same pace for the rest of 2016, the children’s print market will have risen 11.7% by the end of the year to £394m, marking the biggest year on year jump since 2007 (17%). The children’s yearly market value has increased by £120m over the last 10 years, a jump of 44%, O’Brien added.

via Children’s 2016 print book market up 11.7% to date | The Bookseller.

Children’s book market up 7% in first quarter & other interesting data

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booksellerThe UK children’s book market grew more than 7% in the first quarter of 2016, according to Nielsen Books.

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Kids books are therefore on track to have a “very good year”, especially considering the market grew 5.1% in 2015 from 2014, when sales hit an “all time high”, she said.

Children’s books accounted for 24% of the TCM data (total consumer market) in 2015, compared to only 15% of the total market in 2001, and the two biggest-selling genres in the category last year were children’s fiction and novelty and activity books.

Young adult (YA) saw a decline in 2015 but that was mainly due to the fact that 2014 sales were boosted by Veronica Roth’s Divergent series, said Swope. The YA market is actually diversifying, with debut authors getting more  of a look in thanks to prizes, citing Lisa Williamson’s recent win at the 2016 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in the best older fiction category for The Art of Being Normal (David Fickling Books), she added.

Customers are also paying more than ever before for children’s books, with the average selling price of a kids title at £5.40 in 2016, boosted by titles such as Egmont’s Blockopedia and Bloomsbury’s illustrated Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

The big publishers still dominate the market. In fiction, Penguin Random House (PRH) Children’s has 30% of the market, followed by HarperCollins Children’s Books (16.3%). PRH is also the biggest publisher in picture books with 22% of the market, with Macmillan coming in second (13.8%).

However, Andersen Press, Nosy Crow, Bloomsbury and Usborne all saw double digit growth and are “ones to watch”, said Swope.

via Children’s book market up 7% in first quarter | The Bookseller.

What’s Selling at Wellesley Books

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We’ve noticed that our middle-grade and YA readers are moving away from high fantasy, dystopian, and vampire stories, though fantasy still reigns in graphic novels. We’ve seen a resurgence of interest in historical fiction and more realistic novels. Not necessarily super-sad books like John Green’s, but realistic fiction more along the lines of Sarah Dessen’s.

Three books that are huge for us right now are Pax by Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by Jon Klassen, about a boy and his pet fox who are separated during a war and have to survive without each other. It is a beautiful and heartbreaking story that reveals the effects of war through the perspectives of both of these innocents. The book appeals to a lot of parents as well as kids, especially those who loved Wonder and The Thing About Jellyfish, since it has similar heart, and really speaks to readers. I’ve had kids come back and tell me that Pax was amazing, and unlike anything they’ve ever read.

Another very popular historical novel is Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys, which is based on a true story. It takes place in 1945, on a German ship filled with refugees hoping to find a better life. Their stories converge, and the novel represents so many viewpoints. It’s a very emotional read and a fantastic crossover to adults. This book appeals to anyone interested in stories focusing on human interactions, and also to kids who like nonfiction.

For the rest of this recommended piece, go to What's Selling at Wellesley Books.

YA e-Book Sales Decline 44.5% in 2015 (e-Books generally down 11.5%)

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goodereader

The Association of American Publishers has just released their annual report that takes a look at the overall health of the industry and how well audiobooks, e-books, hardcover and paper sales are doing. The organization has reported that e-book sales have declined 11% on the year with YA falling a staggering 44.5% from the same period in 2014.

via e-Book Sales Decline 11.0% in 2015.

Penguin blames likely job losses on rise of ebooks

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After all the recent upbeat news about the resurgence of interest in the physical book and the apparent drop in popularity of ebooks (largely it has to be said stemming from James Daunt’s upbeat view of business at Waterstones) this piece, tucked away in The Guardian’s Financial section, came as a bit of a cautionary surprise…

guardiansmall

Print sales have been in decline as ereaders such as Amazon’s Kindle and rivals Kobo and Nook prove more popular. Figures from the Publishers Association show that UK digital book sales rose 11% to £563m last year, while print copies fell 5% to £2.75bn.

Ebooks now make up 25% of the market, just eight years after the launch of the Kindle in 2007. Figures released this year by NielsenBookScan showed physical sales of adult fiction had declined by more than £150m in just five years.

via Penguin blames likely job losses on rise of ebooks | Books | The Guardian.

An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: If 80% of ‘Young Adult’ books are bought by adults, should we keep the label?

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Really interesting piece (with data) by David Thorpe

If 80% of ‘Young Adult’ books are bought by adults, should we keep the label? – David Thorpe
Did you know that 80% of Young Adult (YA) books are bought by adults? Why do you think this is? And what does this mean for the future of this label, for publishers and readers? As a writer of books for young adults, who has just completed what might be described as a young adult/crossover novel, this subject interests me intensely.

Some fascinating insights into children’s book reading habits and book sales were recently revealed by market research company Nielsen Books at its second annual Children’s Book Summit at Convene, NYC, on September 15.

via An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: If 80% of 'Young Adult' books are bought by adults, should we keep the label? – David Thorpe.

Sales Up for Children’s Booksellers This Summer

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The summer was one of rediscovered classics, movie tie-ins, and backlist at indie bookstores across the country. Despite the lack of a must-have YA author or series (as with John Green or Divergent in years past), PW’s annual end-of-summer poll, which surveyed two dozen general and children’s bookstores across the country, showed that children’s book sales were up.

via Sales Up for Children's Booksellers This Summer.

Grant cheers WBD growth but wants more tokens redeemed

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from The Bookseller:

World Book Day director Kirsten Grant said she was “delighted” with the event this year, as sales of children’s books increased 24% week on week in the wake of the March event.

“I was so delighted with World Book Day this year, it was so much bigger than in 2014,” she said. “I felt we turned the corner not only in book sales and token redemption but also in terms of the huge saturation of media coverage.”

Grant said booksellers saw “loads” of children buying books around World Book Day on 5th March, a claim backed by Nielsen BookScan figures, which show that for the seven days to 7th March 2015, the children’s, YA and educational book market totalled £6.8m, 24% up on the previous week (£5.5m). Sales were also 6.5% up compared to the same week in 2014, in the week ending 8th March 2014 when the value of the children’s market was £6.4m.

Grant attributed the growth to sales of the 10 “hugely popular” World Book Day £1 titles, which altogether sold a total of 837,950 copies across a seven-week period, beginning two weeks before World Book Day, a 7.3% increase from 780,600 copies last year.

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This year Grant also launched TeenFest, an online festival about YA books, featuring interviews with authors, music playlists and blogs, with content spread across social media and WBDTeenFest.com. The website had 42,000 page views during the event and Grant said she “definitely” wants to do it again, even though few boys took part (boys only made up 15% of those using the site this year).

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Another goal for next year is to improve token redemption; one million out of the 14 million tokens sent out were redeemed [sic].

I’m wondering if that should read “one million of the 14 million tokens sent out were NOT redeemed” – if not, it’s a shocking statistic and one that can only be attributed to a failure at school-level to promote them.

via Grant cheers WBD growth | The Bookseller.