Non-fiction and TikTok-boosted YA help children’s book market surge

The children’s book market has increased by more than 11% this year, boosted by picture books, non-fiction and a remarkable 61% growth in YA sales. 

In her talk, "Children’s market overview: Celebrity, TikTok and the mental health revolution", at the Bookseller Children’s Conference, charts and data editor Kiera O’Brien said that during the period from 14th March to 7th August this year, children’s publishers sold 23.7 million books, with a value of £144m. The market grew 11.9% in volume sales and 11.8% in value compared to the same period in 2019. Nielsen was unable to report sales figures during lockdown weeks throughout 2020 and the first 10 weeks of 2021, so all comparisons are against the same period in 2019. 

The market for pre-school and picture books was up 19.6% to £52.2m and each of the sub-categories - picture books, novelty and activity, and pre-school and early-learning - bounced by double-digit figures. Picture book sales were boosted by two World Book Day titles: Tom Fletcher’s There's a Wolf in Your Book, illustrated by Greg Abbott (Puffin), and Gigantosaurus: Dino-Spot by Jonny Duddle (Bonnier). 

Children’s and YA fiction was up 11.3% to £55m but the bulk of the growth was “for once” not down to children’s fiction, which was up only 0.4% this year to £40.9m. O’Brien pointed out that there was no David Walliams title in the spring - 2021 is the first year since 2016 when Walliams has only published one book - and that affected sales, even though the biggest-selling fiction book was his title Megamonster. 

The YA market is still a lot smaller than the children’s fiction market and is currently worth £12.5m but it grew 61% in value between March and August this year, compared to the same period in 2019. The bestsellers are “all down to TikTok”, said O’Brien, who pointed out the popularity of Adam Silvera’s They Both Die at the End on the social media app made it the biggest-selling YA fiction novel of this year. One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus (Penguin) was in second position and E Lockhart’s We Were Liars, first published in the UK by Hot Key Books in 2014, was in third. 

Children’s non-fiction also had a good year, with sales increasing 23.8% to £20.1m. The top general non-fiction titles were World Book Day’s Protect the Planet by Jess French and Aleesha Nandhra (DK), How to Grow Up and Feel Amazing!: The No-Worries Guide for Boys by Dr Ranj and David O’Connell (Wren & Rook), and Adam Kay’s Kay’s Anatomy, illustrated by Henry Paker (Penguin). But Leigh Bardugo is the bestselling YA author from March onwards; her sales were up 1,197%, with 183,000 books sold. 

The YA general interest and leisure category grew by an incredible 69%, which comes down to Marcus Rashford, said O’Brien. You Are a Champion: How to Be the Best You Can Be (Macmillan Children’s Books) accounted for half of the category in volume terms and had its best period in terms of sales the week after the Euro 2020 finals. 

Looking at children’s books as a whole, the bestselling book was Walliams’ Megamonster, followed by Silvera’s YA chart-topper, with Rashford’s title coming in third.