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Borough Press hails half a million milestone for Mackie’s How to Kill Your Family
Bella Mackie’s How to Kill Your Family (The Borough Press) has sold more than 500,000 copies across hardback, paperback, e-book and audio in the UK alone, her publisher said, making it the bestselling fiction début paperback novel this year.
The paperback, published on 14th April, hit number one in the overall UK market in its first full week on sale and has been in the top 10 for 23 weeks. It is now the bestselling début paperback novel published this year. The hardback spent seven weeks in the top 10 – reaching number two in its partial week – and the audio, read by Charly Clive, hit number one on Amazon in publication week. The e-book was number one in the market over the Christmas period, according to the Bookstat chart, and was number one in the Kindle chart for 12 days in July.
How to Kill Your Family has sold 290,286 copies via Nielsen BookScan in the UK in paperback and 54,742 copies in hardback.
A large-scale PR campaign planned for this autumn will kick off on 1st October when Mackie will be in conversation with Richard Osman at the Capital Crime festival. Additional activity will include national print and broadcast, an “evening with Bella Mackie” event and key Christmas signings.
Mackie said: “When I started How to Kill Your Family, I hoped it might be a book that made people laugh. In my mind, I dreamt that I might sell 20,000 copies. That sounded like a lofty goal to aim for. So to get to half a million is completely surreal. I mean that, I cannot fully comprehend it. I’m beyond grateful to everyone who bought it, even if it was only to freak out a family member.”
Ann Bissell, editorial director, added: “Hitting the half a million UK sales mark for this funny and furious book demonstrates just how Bella has captured the reading zeitgeist. It’s the book that everyone has been talking about and I can’t wait to see an even bigger interest in How to Kill Your Family this Christmas!”
Mackie’s second novel will follow in July 2023.
