I came across an interesting article in The Sydney Morning Herald over the weekend relating to popular Young Adult Literature titles for Christmas this year. I’ve also included the top ten list provided by Dymocks of their best selling books showing the popularity of books for young people.
Source: Morris, L. 2014. "Tween favourites vie for supremacy." The Sydney Morning Herald, December 6, 18.
Tween favourites vie for supremacy
Books Battle of Christmas
Linda Morris
In the battle for Christmas book sales, the competition has come down to two giants of tween fiction. On one side are the homegrown anarchists, Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton, and on the other is the all-American Wimpy Kid.
This year’s contest appears to be a rerun of last year’s dash to the finish, when Jeff Kinney’s eighth instalment of the Wimpy Kid Series, Hard Luck, ran down the 39-Storey Treehouse and John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars.
Only a late resurgence from the Man Booker Prize winner, Richard Flanagan, and Matthew Reilly’s latest blockbuster, The Great Zoo of China, might upset Kinney and Griffith’s quest for sales domination.
Strong growth in children’s book sales has generally marked a year of consolidation for booksellers in Melbourne and Sydney – a year in which political biographies disappointed, the celebrity memoir proved a covert bestseller and online sales soared.
‘‘The fact that children are still coveting and choosing books over all the other enticements in TV, movies and the internet really speaks to the unique power of the written word,’’ Dymocks’ buying manager, Sophie Higgins, said. ‘‘Perhaps also the fact that parents know how important it is for children to have strong literacy skills.
‘‘Our growth, calendar year-to-date, is well into double digits and last year was also a growth year for children’s books; it really is such a good news story.’’
After initial fizz, interest in political biographies has fallen away, with the exception of Julia Gillard’s My Story.
Celebrity biographies from the likes of Lena Dunham, John Cleese, Amy Poehler and Cary Elwes have been racing out the door, according to Kinokuniya, while shortstory collections or novellas from Christos Tsiolkas, Michelle de Kretser, Patrick Rothfuss, Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel have been selling in place of novels.
Such is the interest in Dunham’s Not That Kind of Girl, The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer and Poehler’s Yes Please, Mark Rubbo, managing director of Melbourne’s independent book chain Readings, suggested non-fiction titles by feisty women should become a sub-genre.
Online Australian bookstore Booktopia expects its biggest sales everbefore December 10, its Christmas order cut-off. Chief buyer John Purcell predicts Big Little Lies, by Liane Moriarty, The Rosie Effect, by Graeme Simsion , and The Great Zoo of China to be popular holiday reads.
Last year Dymocks recorded some of its biggest pre-Christmas sales days. This year, says Higgins, sales are largely positive but much more variable, week to week.
At Readings, overall sales are up slightly on last year, and online sales by a ‘‘huge amount’’.
It has been a strong year for Mosman’s Pages & Pages but the next three weeks make or break the year.
'‘Let the madness begin,’’ general manager Jon Page said.
