Nostalgia titles go head-to-head in battle for Mother's Day sales

Nostalgia titles Five Forget Mother's Day (Quercus) and The Mum, part of the Ladybird Books for Grown Ups series (Penguin) are among a tranche of titles going head-to-head this Mother's Day (26th March) as the trade prepares its most giftable wares.

Five Forget Mother’s Day sold 7,053 copies last week, a 48% bump week-on-week and took second in the hardback non fiction chart, while The Mum ranked third, selling 5,711 copies, seeing a 55% boost on the previous week.

The two titles have been displayed prominantly in both chain and independent bookshops. In Chorleywood Bookshop the two titles made the cut among other selections including The Little Book of Mum's Wisdom (Jane Curry Publishing), a meditation on the experiences of one family by brothers Denis and Ian Baker, Sarah Turner's The Unmumsy Mum Diary (Penguin) and Scrummy Mummies, a comedy book for "less-than-perfect" parents, published by Quadrille earlier this month. 

The Chorleywood Bookshop's Mother's Day display.

Drake the Bookshop in Stockton is stocking "instead of a card" poetry pamphlets from Candlestick Press it says "always do very well", as well as "obvious" choice Five Forget Mother's Day.

Waterstones stores have been promoting the books in table displays alongside titles also including Peppa Pig: My Mummy (Ladybird), Mary Berry's Everyday (Ebury), Fearne Cotton's Happy (Orion), Santa Montefiore's A Mothers Love (S&S UK) and Why I Love my Mum by Rob Stears, touted as "the perfect Mother's Day gift for 2017" by Amazon, published this month by Hachette Books Ireland.

This Sunday, its branch in Gateshead is treating customers shopping with their mums to a hot drink, sandwich and a slice of cake for £5 when they buy a present for her, while its branch in Middlesborough is hosting a storytime event on the day "all about lovely mums", plus the chance to make mum a card on site with a range of craft materials. 

Publishers are also getting involved. This Mother’s Day, Virago has been promoting its Virago Modern Classics gift range, what it is calling "the perfect gift for Excellent Women". It partnered with The Literary Gift Company, a specialist online retailer for literature lovers, to run a ‘#ViragoMugshot’ competition, encouraging our social media followers to share their Virago book and brew for a chance to win a Virago mug and notepad set for their mum. The team also created a "Which Virago is your Mother?" quiz, highlighting the unique features of its writers and pairing them to the gift range on its blog to help people decide which to buy on Mother’s Day.

Submissions to Virago's #ViragoMugshot competition

Vintage is championing "supermum" Jo Pavey’s autobiography, This Mum Runs, this mother’s day, now out as a Yellow Jersey paperback. The book details her "roundabout journey to the top", winning the 10,000m gold medal eight months after becoming a mum, preparation for which included pushing a buggy on training runs, clocking up the miles on the treadmill while her daughter napped and hitting the track while the children played in the long-jump pit. "She believes she became a champion, not in spite of all of this, but because of it," a spokesperson for Vintage said.

Hodder is backing Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy Mum, Happy Baby, a title it is hoping will be a big this Mother’s Day, with retailer promotions and targeted online advertising taking place this week on Facebook and Instagram. The book, a number one bestseller in the Sunday Times chart for two weeks when it published on 23rd February, has since been promoted too on a nationwide tour for the author, with media appearances including on ITV’s "Lorraine" and "This Morning".

It will also be pushing Hurrah for Gin by Katie Kirby, which continues to sell despite being originally published in October. A second book from the illustrator-author will publish in October.

And Cornerstone has been circulating "Mother's Day highlights" including recent publications: You Said Forever by Susan Lewis, Tilly True by Dilly Court, A Secret Garden by Katie Fforde, Everywoman by Jess Phillips, Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore, At Home at Highclere: Entertaining at The Real Downton Abbey by The Countess of Carnarvon, The Waters of Eternal Youth by Donna Leon, How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids by Jancee Dunn, When I Was Invisible by Dorothy Koomson, Shipyard Girls at War by Nancy Revell, and The Bone Collection by Kathy Reichs.