Kobo reveals its UK bestsellers and 'most read'

Romance is the main genre which Kobo platform users read all the way to the end, an inaugural Kobo Book Report on e-reading trends in the UK has found.

Kobo has revealed both its top purchases, and which books readers actually completed. It found that romance was the most thoroughly read genre on the Kobo platform in 2014, with 62% of e-book downloads read right through to the end, followed closely by crime and thriller novels (61%), and fantasy (60%).

Topping the Most Completed Books of 2014 chart is self-published title Rotten to the Core by Casey Kelleher, who recently signed a one-book deal with Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer imprint. Other titles in the most completed list include Sylvia Day’s erotic self-published title All Revved Up, Lynda La Plante’s Wrongful Death (Simon & Schuster) and Present Danger by Stella Rimington (Quercus).

Meanwhile the e-reading company's list of its bestselling titles in the UK across the year is topped by One Cold Night by Katia Lief (Blue Table Books) with Gone Again by Doug Johnstone (Faber) in second place.

As seen on the Apple platform, books with film tie-ins ranked highly in the Top 10 chart of 2014 throughout the year. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Orion) ranks third in the bestsellers’ table, closely followed by The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Penguin). Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northurp (William Collins) is in the ninth highest-selling spot. All three of those titles also featured on Apple’s iBooks top 10 bestseller list. Other titles to make the cut are backlist title My Sister’s Keeper by Bill Benners (McBryde Publishing) coming in fifth position, The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (J K Rowling, Little Brown) and Bloody Valentine by James Patterson (Cornerstone).

Kobo also found that British readers continue to love British writers, with one third of the Kobo UK’s Top 100 Bestseller’s books written by British authors. Lee Child features heavily in the top 100, with Not a Drill (A Jack Reacher short story), James Penney's New Identity/Guy Walks Into a Bar (Storycuts), Killing Floor: (Jack Reacher 1), and Deep Down (A Jack Reacher short story) all featuring in the Top 100 Bestseller’s list. Meanwhile, Fiona Gibson features twice with Take Mum Out, and The Great Escape.

Michael Tamblyn, president and chief content office at Kobo, said: "The typical bestseller list often looks very different when you compare books purchased versus books read cover to cover. In fact, the most completed book doesn’t even feature on the UK Bestseller List (as seen below); Rotten to The Core by Casey Kelleher was the most completed book in the UK, with 83% of people reading it cover to cover. Whereas, the number one bestselling e-book in the UK, One Cold Night by Katia Lief was only completed by 69% of those who read it.  lthough James Patterson’s books do not feature on the Top Ten Most Completed Books of 2014 list, overall James Patterson was the most completed author in the UK for his entire portfolio of books.”

Tamblyn also said he expected the overall e-book market to grow to $22bn by 2017. “Overall, the e-book market makes up about $14.5 billion in sales globally and is expected to reach more than $22 billion by 2017. The advances that we’re seeing year-over-year are incredible, with more publishers, users and authors changing the face of the industry at an unprecedented pace.”

Kobo Book Report’s UK Bestseller List of 2014
1.       One Cold Night – Katia Lief (Blue Table Books)
2.       Gone Again – Doug Johnstone (Faber)
3.       Gone Girl  – Gillian Flynn (Orion)
4.       The Fault in Our Stars – John Green (Penguin)
5.       My Sister's Keeper  – Bill Benners (McBryde Publishing)
6.       The Husband's Secret – Liane Moriarty (Penguin)
7.       The Cuckoo's Calling – Robert Galbraith (Little, Brown)
8.       Her Last Letter – Nancy C. Johnson (Penwyck Publishing)
9.       Twelve Years a Slave – Solomon Northup (William Collins)
10.     Bloody Valentine – James Patterson (Cornerstone)

Kobo's "Most Completed" Books of 2014
1.       Rotten to the Core - Casey Kelleher (Self-published)
2.       The Tycoon's Vacation – Melody Anne (Gossamer Publishing)
3.       The Traitor – Kimberley Chambers (Preface Digital)
4.       Concealed in Death – J. D. Robb (Piatkus)
5.       Wrongful Death - Lynda La Plante (Simon & Schuster)
6.       All Revved Up - Sylvia Day (self-published)
7.       Present Danger - Stella Rimington (Quercus)
8.       The Empty Cradle - Rosie Goodwin (Headline)
9.       The Witness - Nora Roberts (Piatkus)
10.    The Promise (Fallen Star Series, Book 4) – Jessica Sorensen