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Translated lit fiction selling better than English lit fiction in the UK, survey finds

A survey in the UK has found that translated fiction sales have almost doubled in the past 15 years, while the overall market for fiction has declined, reports the Guardian. The survey, commissioned by the Man Booker International Prize and conducted by Nielsen Book, looked at physical book sales in the UK from 2001-2016 and found that ‘on average, translated fiction books sell better than books originally written in English, particularly in literary fiction’. ‘In 2001, every literary fiction title written in English sold an average 1153 copies, while every translated literary fiction title sold only 482 copies,’ said Fiammetta Rocco, administrator of the Man Booker International Prize. ‘By 2015 this had completely changed—every literary fiction title written in English sold an average of only 263 copies, while every translated literary fiction title sold an average of 531 copies.’ The most popular languages for translation in 2015 were French, Italian, Japanese, Swedish and German, with strong sales for authors such as Elena Ferrante, Haruki Murakami and Karl Ove Knausgaard driving the growth. In 2015, the bestselling translated titles in the UK were: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (108,969), The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair by Joël Dicker (87,002) and Look Who’s Back by Timur Vermes (68,461).

 

Category: International news