UK children’s book market reports growth; YA down 22%, children’s nonfiction up 10.2%

In the UK, the children’s book market has reported steady growth between August 2017 and August 2018, reports the Bookseller.

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.

The UK’s biggest selling children’s author was David Walliams, who sold 1.3 million books despite sales being down 1% in value, while Julia Donaldson titles were up 4.2% in volume, showing continued growth year-on-year.

Tags: children’s books

Category: International news Junior