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International Spotlight: Ireland book sales’ value falls 29% in lockdown
Across the Irish Sea the books market has suffered as bookshops have been shuttered, falling by almost a third in value
Ireland’s book market has seen a 29% year-on-year decline in value during the period in which the country has been in lockdown, according to Nielsen BookScan data. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced the closure of shops on 24th March and, from then to the week ending 2nd May, the Irish print market dropped 27% in volume, and declined in value from €11.4m earned across the same period in 2019, to €8.1m.
Adult Non-Fiction has been hardest hit, with a 35% plummet year on year. The category fell by €1.68m compared to the same period last year—though, we should keep in mind, spring 2019 was a particularly verdant period for non-fiction on both sides of the Irish Sea. In Ireland, the combined might of Mrs Hinch’s Hinch Yourself Happy and Kay Featherstone and Kate Allinson’s Pinch of Nom was worth over 20,000 copies, or €294,000, across the comparable period a year ago.
Date Range 22nd March to 2nd May 2020 Source Nielsen
Of course, with fortuitous timing, The Daly Dish by Gina and Karol Daly (pictured)—which is known as the “Irish Pinch of Nom”—was published on 13th March. It sold 6,416 copies in its first week on sale, the biggest launch week in the territory since Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in 2016, and within the lockdown period shifted a further 6,129 units, earning £119,704, to top the bestseller chart. Without The Daly Dish, there would be just a single non-fiction title in Ireland’s top 10—Charlie Mackesy’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, in 10th.
However, one non-fiction category saw an 81% improvement in value year on year. As a nation, stuck indoors with nothing to do, turned to colouring and activity books, Handicrafts, Arts and Crafts jumped by a value of €53,241 year on year. Puzzles also rose, by 64%. Adult Fiction suffered too, falling 28% in value, with just under a million euros wiped off its year-on-year total.
General and Literary Fiction was the highest-earning category across the market, though it fell 23% against its 2019 value, earning €986,079 for the period. Crime & Thriller was the third most-valuable sector, though still down 37% year on year. Of course, queen of literary Ireland Sally Rooney scored strongly with Normal People, its much-fêted BBC adaptation boosting its fortunes on her home turf (and in the UK too). However, Rooney missed out on the fiction top spot by fewer than 700 copies: it was beaten by Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing, which managed to leapfrog Normal People to claim second place in the overall list.
Children’s was the least affected of the main categories, though it still fell by 25% in value, to €2.07m. Of course, Reference and Home Learning is having a whale of a time, with its value rising 56%. Though Children’s Fiction dropped 28% against 2019, it was still the second-most valuable category across the market—and its fellow kids’ categories also performed well, with Picture Books the fourth and Young Adult Fiction the seventh most lucrative segment of the books market in Ireland.
