From The Bookseller:
JR Ellis’ Murder at St Anne’s (Thomas & Mercer) has clocked in as the Bookstat e-book number one for the week ending 11th December, marking the author’s first number one in the chart.
. . . .
The e-book and print charts tend to divert more than ever at this time of year, with the print market so laser-focused on Christmas gifts and e-books still firmly in the self-gifting arena. The Bookstat chart saw a flurry of new entries, with Nicolas Sparks’ The Wish (Sphere), Robert Bryndza’s Darkness Falls (Sphere) and Emma Haughton’s The Dark (Hodder & Stoughton) debuting in the top five.
Link to the rest at The Bookseller
My presumption is that Bookstat misses all indie published books – and probably a lot of small presses – and that there is a lot of variation from week to week, so I’m not sure what we are supposed to make of this. Or why The Bookseller cares.
I’ve no idea what the position was at 11 December but, as of today, the UK Kindle paid ebook rankings have Robert Harris (The Cicero Trilogy) at number 1, Abigail Dean (Girl A) at number 3 – though the publishers are pushing this on price having set the ebook price to 99p (and the hardback is cheap at £7), with J R Ellis clocking in at number 23.
Of course, Ellis is an Amazon (Thomas & Mercer) author so the ebook is not going to be overpriced and she’s clearly embedded in the less traditional approach to publishing (it is book 7 in a series after all). Plus the Bookstat figures were picking up the “just published” surge.
Some other of the titles make it into today’s bestseller lists, mostly at lower rankings. My main impression is that the British public really likes crime stories – in all their varieties – with a bit of Romance. Oh, and Harry Potter of course, though how Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone got into the top 50 when everyone in the world has already bought it …