CB M The
anadian ook
arket
2019
A comprehensive overview of sales performance within the Canadian book industry for 2019.
TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 Preface 6 BookNet Canada’s Consumer Research 2019 8 French Canadian Market 10 What You’ll See on Every Page 14 Total Market 16 Canadian-Owned Publishers 18 Fiction 20 Fantasy 22 General 24 Historical 26 Literary 28 Mystery & Detective 30 Romance 32 Science Fiction 34 Thrillers 36 Women 38 Non-Fiction 92 Antiques & Collectibles 92 Architecture 40 Art 92 Bibles 42 Biography & Autobiography 44 Body, Mind & Spirit 46 Business & Economics 48 Comics & Graphic Novels 92 Computers 50 Cooking 52 Crafts & Hobbies 92 Design 93 Drama 54 Education 56 Family & Relationships 58 Foreign Language Study 60 Games 93 Gardening 62 Health & Fitness 64 History 93 House & Home 66 Humour 93 Language Arts & Disciplines 93 Law 93 Literary Collections 93 Literary Criticism 94 Mathematics 94 Medical 94 Music 68 Nature 94 Performing Arts 94 Pets
94 Philosophy 94 Photography 70 Poetry 72 Political Science 74 Psychology 76 Reference 78 Religion 80 Science 82 Self-Help 84 Social Science 86 Sports & Recreation 95 Study Aids 95 Technology & Engineering 95 Transportation 88 Travel 90 True Crime 96 98 100
Young Adult (YA)
102 104 106
Juvenile
Young Adult Fiction Young Adult Non-Fiction
Juvenile Fiction Juvenile Non-Fiction
108 Glossary 110 About BookNet Canada
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PREFACE Welcome to the 2019 edition of The Canadian Book Market. Here are some notes on the data you’ll find in this report. METHODOLOGY:
• In 2019, our national retail panel included over 2,200 store locations comprising chains, independents, newsstands, general retailers, online retailers, and library wholesalers. • This report contains physical book sales only. • The focus is on English-language trade book sales; other markets, such as education, are not represented.
TIME PERIOD:
• The last week covered in The Canadian Book Market 2019 is the week ending Dec. 29, 2019. The last week of 2018 is the week ending Dec. 30, 2018
• Comparative data from 2018 and 2019 for more than 30 subject categories, including the top sellers in 2019 for the bestselling categories. • Market-share graphs by publisher and distributor, price-point analysis, and performance by publication date.
Contents include:
Comparable Stores:
• This term refers to a fixed group of approximately 988 stores that have consistently submitted sales data since 2016. • Totals for Comparable Stores do not reflect totals for the whole market but allow for a more accurate view of the year-over-year market and individual category fluctuations.
ALSO INCLUDED:
• Top-level data from our Canadian Book Consumer survey panel. By including this data, we hope to provide a more complete picture of the English-language book market in Canada. • Sales data from the French Canadian market, as provided by the Société de gestion de la Banque de titres de langue française (BTLF), which includes total value, total volume, average list price, and top-selling French-language titles.
Changes from The Canadian Book Market 2018:
• 2018 data has been updated since The Canadian Book Market 2018. Updates to bibliographic data can cause the volume and value of sales to change from previous editions of this publication. • Publisher and distributor market-share graphs have been trimmed from 14 to 10 rows in 2019.
MANY THANKS: I would be remiss not to extend my thanks to the BookNet team for numerous hours spent extracting data, compiling numbers, reviewing graphs, and finally putting it all together in a cohesive manner. I would also like to acknowledge the ongoing support of the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Canada Book Fund, which made this publication possible. Sincerely, Noah Genner President & CEO, BookNet Canada
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WHAT YOU’LL SEE... On every even-numbered page:
General
Subject AnAlySiS | FictiOn |
2
Comparable Stores Value
Volume
Value
Volume
ISBns reported
ISBns with Sales
$899,244,563.65
43,804,778
$1,128,176,834.68
54,587,071
806,420
607,720
General Fiction 2019
$4,609,888.00
232,255
$5,290,415.32
271,247
15,451
9,215
General Fiction 2018
$7,148,461.07
359,734
$7,897,173.11
401,864
20,091
13,524
-35.51%
-35.44%
-33.01%
-32.50%
-23.09%
-31.86%
0.51%
0.53%
0.47%
0.50%
1.92%
1.52%
Total Market 2019
1
Percent Change Category Share of Total Market
4
all Stores
GENERAL FICTION represents
UNIT SALES by wEEk - COMPARAbLE STORES Volume 2017
Volume 2018
Volume 2019
3
Median 2019
5
0.50%
35,000
30,000
of all unit sales
25,000
6
wEEkLy SALES ANALySIS Value
20,000
Units
2019
15,000
10,000
Median Week
$100,411.98
5,138
Average Week
$101,738.76
5,216
Best Week
$184,994.54
9,720
Slowest Week
$66,865.20
3,324
Median Week
$148,025.85
7,659
Average Week
$151,868.71
7,728
Best Week
$290,684.16
14,827
$99,671.84
5,119
2018
0
06 13 20 27 03 10 17 24 03 10 17 24 31 07 14 21 28 05 12 19 26 02 09 16 23 30 07 14 21 28 04 11 18 25 01 08 15 22 29 06 13 20 27 03 10 17 24 01 08 15 22 29
5,000
Jan
7
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
PUbLIShER MARkET ShARE - VOLUME SOLD 2018
Oct
Nov
Slowest Week
Dec
2018
2019
HarperCollins Canada
HarperCollins Publishers
Simon & Schuster Canada
Cormorant Books Hodder & Stoughton
Hachette Book Group
HarperCollins Canada
University of Toronto Press
Scribner
Penguin Random House Canada
Simon & Schuster
Nelson Education Limited
Thorndike Press
Raincoast Book Distribution
Pocket Books*
Flanker Press Limited
HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Amazon Digital Services Inc.*
Orion Publishing Group
Gallimard, Editions
Other
Other
0 *not present in 2018 Top 10
8
DISTRIbUTOR MARkET ShARE - VOLUME SOLD
2019
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
0
120,000
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
*not present in 2018 Top 10
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WHAT YOU’LL SEE... 1
Total Market 2019: aggregated sum of all sales tracked in BNC SalesData for items with both an ISBN and a bibliographic record.
Category 2019: aggregated sum of 2019 sales within specified category. Category 2018: aggregated sum of 2018 sales within specified category. Percent Change: difference in sales within specified category between 2019 and 2018 as a percentage. Category Share of Total Market: percentage of market share of category as compared to the market as a whole.
2 Comparable Stores: aggregated sum within specified category for a fixed group of retailers that reported POS throughout 2017, 2018, and 2019 and used for year-over-year comparison (excludes some retailer sales).
3 ISBNs Reported: total number of ISBNs tracked by BNC SalesData in the category and in the market as a whole.
ISBNs with Sales: total number of ISBNs tracked in the category and in the total market that had one or more sales recorded.
4 Unit Sales by Week – Comparable Stores: sometimes referred to as a ring-fence, this is the aggregated sum of individual units sold by week for 2017, 2018, and 2019 for a fixed group of retailers that reported sales throughout the entirety of the 2017-2019 period.
5 Category Share of Total Market: the percentage of market share the category sales represent as compared to the total units sold in the market as a whole.
6 Weekly Sales Analysis: median and average sales over the year as well as the best and slowest weeks; shown in value and units for 2018 and 2019.
7 Publisher Market Share: ranking of the top 10 publishers by category according to sum of volume sold for 2018 and 2019; all additional publishers comprise the “other” category.
8 Distributor Market Share: ranking of the top 10 distributors by category according to sum of volume sold for 2018 and 2019; all additional distributors comprise the “other” category.
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WHAT YOU’LL SEE... On every odd-numbered page:
Subject AnAlySiS | FictiOn |
1
2
3
GENERAL
Top 10 Hardcover Title
Contributor
ISBN
Publisher
Binding
The Labyrinth of the Spirits: A Novel
Ruiz Zafón, Carlos
9781443453998
HarperCollins Canada
HT
List Price $34.99
The Alchemist
Coelho, Paulo; Smith, James Noel; Clarke, Alan R.
9780060887964
HarperCollins Publishers
HT
$37.00
La Femme Qui Fuit
Barbeau-Lavalette, Anaãs
9782923896502
Editions Marchand de Feuilles
HT
N/A
Supernatural: Burgers, Pies, and Other Bites from the Road
N/A
9781683837459
Insight Editions
HT
$39.99
Guilty Not Guilty
Francis, Felix
9781471173165
Simon & Schuster
HT
$32.00
The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
Goldman, William; Manomivibul, Michael
9780544173767
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade & Reference Pub.
HT
$36.00
Machine Without Horses: A Novel
Humphreys, Helen
9781443432498
HarperCollins Canada
HT
$29.99
Caging Skies
Leunens, Christine
9781419739088
Abrams
HT
$33.00
The Alchemist
Coelho, Paulo
9780062390622
HarperCollins Publishers
HT
$31.99
All the Light We Cannot See
Doerr, Anthony
9781476746586
Scribner
HT
$37.00
Top 10 paperBacK Title
Contributor
ISBN
Publisher
Binding
The Marrow Thieves
Dimaline, Cherie
9781770864863
Cormorant Books
TP
$14.95
A Man Called Ove
Backman, Fredrik
9781444775815
Hodder & Stoughton
TP
$15.99
All the Light We Cannot See
Doerr, Anthony
9781501104565
Scribner
TP
$19.99
The Last Secret of the Deverills
Montefiore, Santa
9781471172373
Simon & Schuster
TP
$22.00
The Last Romantics: A Novel
Conklin, Tara
9781443436304
HarperCollins Canada
TP
$24.99
Station Eleven
Mandel, Emily St. John
9781443434874
HarperCollins Publishers
TP
$18.99
The Footprints of God: A Novel
Iles, Greg
9781982122324
Pocket Books
TK
$12.99
The Rosie Project
Simsion, Graeme
9781443422666
HarperCollins Canada
TP
$19.99
The Art of Racing in the Rain
Stein, Garth
9781443404969
HarperCollins Publishers
TP
$19.99
The Lonely Hearts Hotel
O'Neill, Heather
9781443435871
HarperCollins Publishers
TP
$22.99
median and average pricing
List Price
4
FormaT disTriBuTion
Median List Price
Average List Price
2019
2018
2019
2018
All Formats
$19.61
$18.99
$20.51
$20.33
Mass Market
Mass Market
$10.99
$10.99
$11.13
$10.86
Trade Paper
$19.95
$19.00
$19.64
Hardcover Trade
$36.99
$34.95
$35.63
All Paper
2019
2018
92.42%
91.63%
6.11%
6.74%
Trade Paper
84.57%
84.73%
$19.40
Other Paper
1.75%
0.16%
$34.44
All Hardcover
6.98%
7.56%
Other
0.60%
0.82%
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WHAT YOU’LL SEE... 1
Top 10 Hardcover: ranking is determined by volume of sales. All bibliographic data elements, including contributor, publisher, binding type, and list price, are supplied by publisher or distributor to RR Bowker. Includes all Hardcover Trade bindings.
2 Top 10 Paperback: ranking is determined by volume of sales. All bibliographic data elements, including contributor, publisher, binding type, and list price, are supplied by publisher or distributor to RR Bowker. Paperback includes mass market, trade paper, paperback text, digest paperback, US-tall rack, and other paper bindings.
3
Median and Average Pricing: display of median and average pricing by Mass Market, Trade Paper, and Hardcover Trade binding types.
4
Format Distribution: breakdown of units sold by binding type within the specified category, with format information provided by publisher feed to RR Bowker.
Hardcover: Hardcover trade All Paper: Mass market, trade paper, paperback text, digest paperback, US-tall rack Other: Audio, bath book, blank book, board book, calendar, ebook, map, rag book, analog game, card, kit, mixed media product, novelty book, picture book, POS materials, sheet music, toy, other book format, other media, other merchandise, other printed materials.
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Subject Analysis | Non-Fiction |
foreign language study
Comparable Stores
All Stores
Value
Volume
Value
Volume
ISBNs Reported
ISBNs with Sales
$899,244,563.65
43,804,778
$1,128,176,834.68
54,587,071
806,420
607,720
Foreign Language Study 2019
$2,947,977.74
125,722
$3,386,978.22
147,477
5,425
4,376
Foreign Language Study 2018
$3,699,625.10
153,472
$3,958,128.23
165,397
6,455
5,365
-20.32%
-18.08%
-14.43%
-10.83%
-15.96%
-18.43%
0.33%
0.29%
0.30%
0.27%
0.67%
0.72%
Total Market 2019
Percent Change Category Share of Total Market
FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDY represents
UNIT SALES by week - COMPARABLE STORES Volume 2017
Volume 2018
Volume 2019
Median 2019
0.27%
6,000
5,000
of all unit sales
Weekly sales analysis
4,000
Value
Units
2019 3,000
Median Week
$61,894.78
2,618
Average Week
$65,134.20
2,836
$142,594.79
5,034
$49,254.64
2,260
Best Week
2,000
Slowest Week
2018
1,000
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Publisher Market Share - VOLUME SOLD 2018
Oct
Nov
$73,342.49
3,049
Average Week
$76,117.85
3,180
$156,330.40
5,745
$50,833.55
2,296
Best Week
06 13 20 27 03 10 17 24 03 10 17 24 31 07 14 21 28 05 12 19 26 02 09 16 23 30 07 14 21 28 04 11 18 25 01 08 15 22 29 06 13 20 27 03 10 17 24 01 08 15 22 29
0
Median Week
Slowest Week
Dec
Distributor Market Share - VOLUME SOLD 2018
2019
McGraw-Hill Education
McGraw-Hill Education
Lonely Planet Publications
Penguin Random House Canada
Tuttle Publishing
Raincoast Book Distribution
Dorling Kindersley Publishing
Publishers Group Canada
HarperCollins Publishers Limited
HarperCollins Canada
Oxford University Press
Simon & Schuster Canada
Diversified Publishing
Oxford University Press
John Wiley & Sons Canada
Ingram Publisher Services
Hodder & Stoughton*
Hachette Book Group
Éditions Hurtubise H M H
John Wiley & Sons Canada
2019
Other
Other 0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
*not present in 2018 Top 10
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Subject Analysis | NON-FICTION |
foreign language study
Top 10 Hardcover Title
Contributor
ISBN
Publisher
Bind.
Bescherelle
Contant, Chantal
9782896475872
Editions Hurtubise H M H Limitee
HT
$16.95
Living Language French
Living Language Staff
9780307478436
Diversified Publishing
HT
$57.00
Living Language French
Living Language Staff
9780307478429
Diversified Publishing
HT
$25.99
Living Language English
Quirk, Erin; Living Language Staff
9780307972347
Diversified Publishing
HT
$58.00
Japanese Picture Dictionary
Stout, Timothy G.
9784805308998
Tuttle Publishing
HT
$19.95
9782894649497
Ulysses Travel Guides
HT
$9.95
Canadian French for Better Travel
List Price
Petit Guide de Conjugaison
Bescherelle, M.; Contant, Chantal; Duchesneau, Hélène
9782896472796
Editions Hurtubise H M H Limitee
HT
$14.95
Four Feet, Two Sandals
Williams, Karen Lynn; Chayka, Doug; Mohammad, Khadra
9780802852960
William B. Eerdmans Pub.Co.
HT
$24.45
Bescherelle Vol. I
Bescherelle
9782218065910
Editions Hatier
HT
$23.47
Korean Picture Dictionary
Cho, Tina
9780804849326
Tuttle Publishing
HT
$19.95
Top 10 PAPERBACK Title
Contributor
ISBN
Publisher
Bind.
All New Larousse's FrenchEnglish English-French Dictionary
Larousse Staff
9780671002770
Pocket Books
MM
Collins First Time French Dictionary
Collins Dictionaries
9780007955084
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
TP
$16.99
Practice Makes Perfect Complete French Grammar
Heminway, Annie
9781259642371
McGraw-Hill Education
TP
$20.95
Japanese from Zero! 1
Trombley, George; Takenaka, Yukari
9780976998129
Learn From Zero
TP
$29.01
Easy Spanish Phrase Book NEW EDITION
Garcia Loaeza, Pablo
9780486499055
Dover Publications, Inc
TP
$5.50
Harrap's French and English Pocket Dictionary
Harrap
9780071814454
McGraw-Hill Education
TP
$9.95
Spanish Phrasebook and Dictionary 8
Lonely Planet; Lopez, Marta; Montero, Cristina Hernandez
9781787014657
Lonely Planet Publications
TP
$14.99
Lonely Planet Mexican Spanish Phrasebook and Dictionary
Lonely Planet Publications Staff; Carmona, Cecilia; Carmona, Rafael
9781786576019
Lonely Planet Publications
TP
$14.99
Japanese Phrasebook and Dictionary
Lonely Planet Publications Staff; Abe, Yoshi; Hagiwara, Keiko
9781787014664
Lonely Planet Publications
TP
$14.99
Practice Makes Perfect - Basic French, Premium
Kurbegov, Eliane
9781259836398
McGraw-Hill Education
TP
$20.95
Median and Average Pricing
Mass Market Trade Paper Hardcover Trade
$7.99
Format Distribution
Median List Price
All Formats
List Price
Average List Price
2019
2018
2019
2018
$20.50
$20.95
$24.93
$26.01
All Paper Mass Market Trade Paper
2019
2018
80.79%
79.60%
3.60%
2.46%
77.19%
77.15%
$9.99
$8.50
$9.81
$9.60
$19.50
$19.00
$22.68
$23.06
Other Paper
N/A
N/A
$40.76
All Hardcover
8.01%
8.18%
11.20%
12.22%
$26.08
$30.00
$35.77
Other
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GLOSSARY Bibliographic Information: All descriptive information on titles (e.g., author, title, publisher, subject). Bibliographic information is supplied by publishers to R.R. Bowker. Where an essential data point was unavailable (e.g., subject), title information could not be included. Binding Type: Book format as supplied by publishers to R.R. Bowker. • Hardcover includes Hardcover Trade (HT) • Paperback includes Digest Paperback (DP), Mass Market (MM), Trade Paperback (TP), and US-Tall Rack Paperback (TK) • Other includes Audio (AU), Bath Book (BJ), Blank Book (BB), Board Book (BH), Book Other Format (BK), Calendar
(PC), Ebook (EB), Map (MP), Non-Book Merchandise (NM), Print Other (PR), Rag Book (BI), Software (SF), and Video (VD)
Canadian-owned: For this analysis, a publisher is considered Canadian-owned if its main operational headquarters are in Canada. Publishers with offices operating in multiple countries are included if their head office is located in Canada. Comparable Stores: A fixed group of retailers that have reported sales consistently over the past three years. Aggregate sales are provided for this group of retailers in each year and for each category to allow comparison of year-over-year sales unaffected by the addition of new reporting retailers.
Contributor: The work’s author, editor, translator, or illustrator. Where more than one contributor exists, only the first contributor is listed.
Distributor Market Share: The 10 top distributors of this category last year and one year prior, ranked by total volume sold. Format Distribution: The binding type distribution of units sold in this category. Format information is supplied by publishers to R.R. Bowker. • All Paper includes Mass Market, Trade Paper, and Other Paper • Other Paper includes Digest Paperback and US-Tall Rack Paperback • All Hardcover includes Hardcover Trade • Other includes Audio, Bath Book, Blank Book, Board Book, Calendar, Ebook, Map, Rag Book, Analog Game, Card, Kit, Mixed Media Product, Novelty Book, Picture Book, POS Materials, Sheet Music, Toy, Other Book Format, Other Media, Other Merchandise, Other Printed Materials.
ISBNs Reported: The number of ISBNs sold, on hand, or on order in this category, according to data compiled and delivered from the weekly POS system feeds of all retailers contributing to BNC SalesData.
ISBNs with Sales: ISBNs with reported sales, according to data compiled and delivered from the weekly POS system feeds of all retailers contributing to BNC SalesData. List Price: List price at the time of publication for this edition of The Canadian Book Market. Pricing information is supplied by publishers to R.R. Bowker. Median and Average Pricing: Calculations are based on list price. Pricing information is supplied by publishers to R.R. Bowker.
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GLOSSARY
(continued)
Publisher Market Share: The 10 top publishers in this category last year and one year prior, ranked by total volume sold. In cases where a publisher is listed more than once (e.g., HarperCollins Publishers and HarperCollins Canada), the two listings may represent divisions from different countries (in this case, the US and Canada).
Retailer Panel: Based on publisher feedback, we estimate that BNC SalesData represents 85% of book industry sales. Our panel does not yet include direct institutional sales to schools or college/university textbook sales. Subject: Subject classifications are based on the BISAC subject codes used by BNC SalesData. • • • •
Fiction includes all adult fiction titles Non-Fiction includes all adult non-fiction titles Young Adult includes all young adult fiction and non-fiction titles Juvenile includes all juvenile fiction and non-fiction titles
Subject Category: Data is drawn from the most recent bibliographic information available at the time of calculation. Different editions of a book may appear under different subject categories if, for example, publisher data classifies a book’s hardcover edition as a Mystery and the mass-market edition as a Thriller. Subject classifications are supplied by publishers to R.R. Bowker. Top 10 Titles: Rank is determined by volume of sales, and includes all formats listed under Binding Types above. All bibliographic data elements, including contributor, publisher, binding type, and list price, are supplied by the publisher or distributor to R.R. Bowker. Total Market: The aggregate sum of all sales tracked in BNC SalesData for items with both an ISBN and a bibliographic record. Filtering out records without bibliographic data filters out non-book items such as bookmarks and coffee cups.
Unit Sales by Week – Comparable Stores: The sum of units sold by week by a fixed group of retailers. This allows for a comparison of year-over-year sales, unaffected by the addition of new reporting retailers. Value List: The total sum of dollar value (by list price) of units sold according to data compiled and delivered from the weekly POS system feeds of all retailers contributing to BNC SalesData.
Volume: The total sum of units sold according to data compiled and delivered from the weekly POS system feeds of all retailers contributing to BNC SalesData.
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ABOUT BOOKNET CANADA BookNet Canada is a non-profit organization that develops technology, standards, and education to serve the Canadian book industry. Founded in 2002 to address systemic challenges in the industry, BookNet Canada supports publishing companies, booksellers, wholesalers, distributors, sales agents, industry associations, literary agents, media, and libraries across the country. BookNet Canada’s services and research help companies promote and sell books, streamline workflows, and analyze and adapt to a rapidly changing market. BookNet Canada sets technology standards and educates organizations about how to apply them, performs market research, and tracks 85% of all Canadian English-language print trade book sales through BNC SalesData. Industry-led and partially funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage, BookNet Canada has become, as The Globe and Mail puts it, “the book industry’s supply-chain nerve centre.” BookNet Canada produces this annual report as part of our commitment to provide members of the Canadian book supply chain with the information they need to innovate and compete in today’s market. Annual editions of The Canadian Book Market are comprehensive guides to the Canadian print market. High-level quantitative analysis is included for more than 30 categories, along with comparative data from the prior year for quick and easy year-overyear analysis.
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