Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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Rowling, Wicks lead UK book sales ‘surge’ in 2016

In the UK, book sales in 2016 rose five percent to £1.6bn (A$2.64bn) in year-on-year figures to December according to Nielsen BookScan data, reports the Guardian.

Book sales were up from 190m units in the previous year to 195m units in the 12 months to December 2016.

Sales from J K Rowling’s four releases—the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child script (Hachette), the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them screenplay (Hachette), new illustrated editions of the Harry Potter series (Bloomsbury) and a colouring book—totalled more than £20m (A$33m). Former personal trainer Joe Wicks’  food and fitness series ‘Lean in 15’ (Macmillan) accounted for almost £15m (A$24.8m).

Adult fiction sales were flat in value and volume, while children’s book sales grew 6.5%, helped by sales of Rowling’s titles.

 

Category: International news