Fiction and picture books look set to boost Christmas sales

Fiction and picture books are likely to take the lion’s share of sales over the Christmas period, although this year’s YA and teen offering is not as strong, according to a number of children’s booksellers.

Florentyna Martin, children’s buyer at Waterstones, said younger fiction is particularly strong as Jacqueline Wilson, Rick Riordan, Liz Pichon, David Walliams and Jeff Kinney all have new books out this autumn, as do début fiction writers Clare Balding, Santa Sebag Montefiore, and Tom Fletcher.

Louise Chadwick, who opened the children’s bookshop Button & Bear in Shrewsbury last month, said she was “excited” about Matt Haig’s The Girl Who Saved Christmas (Canongate), while Tamara Macfarlane of Tales on Moon Lane singled out The Crooked Sixpence by Jennifer Bell (Corgi Children’s) and Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk (Dutton Books for Young Readers) as strong middle-grade offerings.

Jasper Sutcliffe, head of buying at Foyles, claimed picture books were “really strong in general” because of new titles from Oliver Jeffers, Julia Donaldson and Rob Biddulph, and Octavia Karavia of Octavia’s Bookshop in Cirencester said the new Beatrix Potter tale, Kitty-In-Boots (Penguin Random House Children’s), was an “obvious” choice for Christmas, as were Chris Riddell’s latest Ottoline title (Ottoline and the Purple Fox) and the new Chris Hadfield picture book (The Darkest Dark, co-written with Kate Fillion), both published by Macmillan Children’s Books.

Martin said nostalgia and anniversaries were likely to be big business at Christmas as there are some “spectacular books” that will sell this year. She said the Roald Dahl centenary had provided a “perfect moment” to reflect on the author’s work. Another highlight for her is the 90th anniversary of Winnie-the-Pooh, which will provide a reason to celebrate the “adored bear and his friends”.

Merchandising

Sales of non-book items related to the big brands are also expected to take off, for both chains and independents. “The quality and volume of toys, games and merchandise is increasing year on year, adding value to the experience of shopping in store,” said Sutcliffe. “This year we thoroughly recommend the Harry Potter Marauders Map Puzzle, heat-changing mug and house crest bookmarks. We’ll also be stocking merchandise from classic characters including Paddington and Peter Rabbit.”

Chadwick said selling merchandise was part of the shop’s remit of providing a “full offer for parents and children”. Anything to do with We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and “The Snowman and the Snowdog” will be popular in the run-up to Christmas, she added.

Big names drive sales

Most booksellers said the big names would power Christmas sales this year but many singled out smaller titles they were looking forward to. Sutcliffe mentioned The Book of Bees by Piyor Socha (Thames & Hudson) as an “outside bet”. “Through beautiful, colourful illustrations, it tells the incredible story of bees from the dinosaur era to Polish beehive design. As a parent, you feel like you’re learning something alongside your children.”

Tony West, manager of The Alligator’s Mouth in Richmond, south-west London, said his picks included We Found a Hat by Jon Klassen (Walker Books), the third Mango and Bambang titles by Polly Faber and Clara Vulliamy (Walker Books), and Sherlock Holmes and the Disappearing Diamond by Sam Hearn (Scholastic). He said he was “always impressed” with Usborne, Walker, Flying Eye and Frances Lincoln. “It has been great to see a new edition of Children Just Like Me from Dorling Kindersley, which should be in every home along with The Story Path from the innovative Big Picture Press,” he added.

Most booksellers agreed that YA and teen titles are lagging behind younger fiction when it comes to offerings for Christmas, however. Sutcliffe said the new titles didn’t “feel quite as strong” this year, while Macfarlane said non-fiction YA, along with audiobooks, was one area where there could be more on offer during the festive period.

One bright spot for the YA market, according to Martin, will be Zoe Sugg, a.k.a. Zoella, whose third novel Going Solo (Penguin Random House Children’s) is out on 17th November. Chadwick predicted that titles from vloggers across the board will sell. “I have a 15-year-old daughter and her interest is mainly in vloggers, so Going Solo will be a big hit, as well Joe Sugg’s Username Regenerated (Hodder & Stoughton). She’s reading We Were Liars at the moment, probably influenced by the Zoella Book Club, which will continue to have an effect on sales.”

Both Sutcliffe and Chadwick said the script book of J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Little, Brown) would be a Christmas hit, but pointed out that many of the buyers were adults. “The people buying Cursed Child are the parents who come into my shop. They are mainly in their early 30s and grew up with Harry Potter. Younger readers aren’t interested,” said Chadwick.

The only bookseller who mentioned YA books that are not by vloggers was Macfarlane, who said she was looking forward to The Hypnotist by Laurence Anholt (PRH Children’s) and the YA anthology I’ll Be Home for Christmas (Stripes).

When asked whether sales of children’s and YA books will be bigger this year than in 2015, Martin said Christmas 2016 “has got everything covered” because this year’s offering was “one of the strongest yet”.

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However, Chadwick said most sales would come from known big hitters such as David Walliams, meaning début writers won’t necessarily get a look in, and Karavia warned that some of the big titles had been released too early, which may affect overall business. “The Kitty-in-Boots and Walliams sales may have diluted by then. I think they would be better being brought out closer to Christmas,” she said.

For Macfarlane, the success of the Christmas period is often unpredictable. “We are expecting [business] to be at least the same as last year but we find things like availability or weather can wreak havoc with sales,” she said.

“We do find the wholesalers come into play a lot more at Christmas. Being able to get books the next day is still something that doesn’t always happen when it comes to distributors.”