The BookNet staff recaps 2022 in terms of book sales and library circulation in the Canadian book market, popular BookNet blog series, and some other 2022 book related highlights.
(Scroll down for a transcript of the conversation.)
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Adaobi Nnaobi: Welcome to the BookNet Canada podcast. I’m Adaobi Nnaobi, the Marketing & Research Associate and the host of this month’s episode.
Fresh snow is falling like powdered sugar; my outfits now consist mainly of chunky sweaters; and coffee shops are now stocked with festive peppermint and gingerbread-flavoured drinks and treats. Now, this could only mean one thing. The holidays are upon us and I’m bringing you a recap of 2022 in terms of book sales and library circulation in the Canadian book market, popular BookNet blog series, and some other 2022 book-related highlights.
This is a big anniversary year for us. BookNet turned 20 this year. Shoutout to the Fighting Squirrels team from Coach House Books, the winners of our anniversary trivia event. Tech Forum, our conference on data, technology, and collaboration in the Canadian book industry, turned 15 this year as well. From the launch of BookNet Canada in 2002 to the debut of SalesData in 2005, BiblioShare in 2008, CataList in 2011, LibraryData in 2019, and our endless standards work on ONIX, BISAC, Thema, ISNI, and more, it’s been two action-packed and data-driven decades. To celebrate, we started a blog series called Tech Forum to-go where we showcase past Tech Forum sessions in quick and easy takeaways. You can read these blog posts on our website, booknetcanada.ca. The links to these blog posts and others mentioned in this episode will be included in the show notes. If you prefer to read the transcript, that will also be linked in the show notes.
This year we released a new research study on book to screen adaptations. The study, Must-Watch, Must-Read: Book-to-Screen Adaptations in the Canadian Book Market 2022, features data from 30 book-to-TV and 60 book-to-film adaptations in 2020 and 2021 and their impact on the Canadian book market. We also released a blog mini-series on book adaptations featuring the Bridgerton book series, the Dune book series, The Witches novel, and the Maid novel, and how the press releases, casting announcements, trailer releases, and more affect the performance of the book to screen adaptations.
Something else that was big this year and has been growing in popularity over time is BookTok. At BookNet, we’re no stranger to #BookTok. We've been paying attention to this trend since it started in 2020. Last summer, #BookTok had more than 14 billion views. Just over a year later, that number is over 95 billion! TikTok has become a vital discovery tool — for young users especially. This past summer at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech 2022 conference, Google Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan shared that 40% of young people search for restaurants on TikTok or Instagram, rather than Google Maps or Search. The hashtag has transformed the way many Canadians discover books also. There are #BookTok trending titles showcased in local bookstores, the hashtag has influenced book cover design, and it could even be responsible for the backlist renaissance. But we weren’t so sure. To find out we tracked print sales and gathered data on the library circulation of 20 backlist titles and book series that have trended on #BookTok since it took off in 2020. We found that from July 2019 to June 2022, sales for trending #BookTok titles increased exponentially, up 1,047% overall. The library loans of trending titles and book series increased by 561% while the number of holds increased exponentially by 1,430%.
Now, let’s move on to our annual round-up of the bestselling books and most circulated books of 2022! To start off, we have some overall data from BookNet Canada’s resident SalesData expert and project manager, Monique Mongeon, on print book sales in Canada this year so far. We’re seeing a return to pre-pandemic holiday shopping habits — meaning people are shopping a little later in the season — so we’ll have to wait and see what the last few weeks of December have in store. While overall year-to-date sales are down 4% over last year, it’s been a great year for YA, which is up 7% over last year to date.
We will be sharing the full top ten lists on our blog but we're happy to share a sneak peek for now. We pulled the bestselling print books in Canada year to date using SalesData, our sales tracking service for the Canadian English-language trade book market.
The bestselling overall Fiction title was It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover.
The bestselling Canadian Fiction title was Five Little Indians by Michelle Good 🍁.
The bestselling overall Non-Fiction title was Atomic Habits by James Clear.
The bestselling Canadian Non-Fiction title was The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté and Daniel Maté 🍁.
The bestselling overall Juvenile & YA title was Cat Kid Comic Club: On Purpose by Dav Pilkey.
The bestselling Canadian Juvenile & YA title was Love You Forever by Robert Munsch and Sheila McGraw 🍁.
As for the most circulated books in 2022 , we gathered our data using LibraryData, the national library collection and circulation analysis tool. We added a number of new libraries to the reporting panel this year. If you’re a library looking to participate, please contact us and we can start working with you!
The top-circulating overall Fiction title was The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave.
The top-circulating Canadian Fiction title was The Maid by Nita Prose 🍁.
The top-circulating overall Non-Fiction title was National Geographic Backyard Guide to the Night Sky, 2nd Edition by Andrew Fazekas and Howard Schneider.
The top-circulating Canadian Non-Fiction title was Indian in the Cabinet by Jody Wilson-Raybould 🍁.
The top-circulated overall Juvenile & YA series was the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney.
The top-circulated Canadian Juvenile & YA collection was the Guinness World Records collection.
Those are the popular books of 2022! Did your favourite book not make the list? Well, don’t worry. Look out for the full list coming soon on the BookNet Canada blog. As I mentioned earlier, this is just a recap of what we have been up to. We encourage you to visit our website, booknetcanada.ca, to access our latest research, including the recent studies, The State of Publishing in Canada 2021, On Loan: Library Use in Canada 2021, and more. Read the blog posts we didn’t cover in this episode including our blog series, Easier with BookNet, where we share tips and tricks that help you use our products and services more effectively.
Before I go, I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge that BookNet Canada’s physical office is upon the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat Indigenous Peoples, the original nations of the land we now call Toronto. BookNet’s operations are currently remote and our staff contributes their work from these traditional territories, as well as those of the Mi’kmaq People, from the lands we now call Beeton, Brampton, Guelph, Halifax, and Vaughan. We endorse the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and support an ongoing shift from gatekeeping to spacemaking in the book industry. I'd also like to acknowledge the Government of Canada for their financial support through the Canada Book Fund. Thanks for listening and happy holidays.
Highlights from The State of Publishing in Canada 2023.