Amazon reveals customers' 2016 book buying habits

Debut psychological thriller Behind Closed Doors by BA Paris (Mira) is Amazon Kindle's number-one selling e-book this year to date, according to its summer 2016 report disclosing the latest retail trends for the e-commerce giant.

Thrillers and crime e-books have dominated the Amazon Top 10 Kindle rankings this year, according to the report, with serial killer thrillers The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza (Bookouture) and Katerina Diamond's debut The Teacher (Avon) featuring at number two and three, respectfully, and psychological and suspenseful thrillers Between You and Me by Lisa Hall (Carina), While My Eyes Were Closed by Linda Green (Quercus), and Paula Hawkins' resolutely successful The Girl on the Train (Doubleday) coming in at top spots four, six and eight.

Family saga Ruby Flynn by Nadine Dorries (Head of Zeus), Alan Bennett's The Lady in the Van (Profile Books), love story Me Without You by Kelly Rimmer (Bookouture) and The Woman Who Upped and Left by Fiona Gibson (HarperCollins) picked off the remaining spots in Amazon's e-book top 10 bestsellers for the year to date, at five, seven, nine and 10.

As part of its Summer Trends Report for 2016, Amazon also revealed regional sales data, disclosing that the adult colouring-in craze was popular in Wales, with Millie Marotta's Tropical Wonderland (Batsford) a big hit in particular. Londoners, meanwhile, have been especially drawn to Joe Wicks Lean in 15 (Bluebird), and Bath residents have enjoyed Mary Berry's Foolproof Cooking (BBC Books). Parenting books The Unmumsy Mum (Bantam Press) and Surpass Every Expectation (Chalfant Eckert Publishing), a book undertaking to help parents raise high achieving children, have hit bestseller lists in Exeter and Manchester, while Ladybird's The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep, a book to fend off "nightly bedtime battles" by Carl-Johan Forssén Ehrlin, did well in the Midlands. Leicester, least surprisingly, were chief fans of 5000-1 The Leicester City Story by Rob Tanner (Icon Books). 

The report also revealed that healthy eating was a top priority for Amazon customers in the first six months of this year. The top 10 print books overall were Wicks' Lean In 15 (Bluebird) in the top spot, Mary Berry's Foolproof Cooking (BBC Books) in second and Ella Mills' Deliciously Ella Every Day (Yellow Kite) in third place. In fourth was The 8-week Blood Sugar Diet by Michael Mosley (Short Books); while Jojo Moyes' Me Before You (Michael Joseph), The Harry Potter Colouring Book (Studio Press); The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo (Vermilion) and Millie Marotta's Animal Kingdom (Batsford) took the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth spots respectively. The final two titles in the top 10 were The Sirt Food Diet by Aiden Goggins and Glen Matten (Yellow Kite) in ninth place and Kate Atkison's Costa-shortlisted A God in Ruins (Doubleday) in the 10th spot.