There’s something new on the menu in this instalment of our Tech Forum to-go series, where we bring back past Tech Forum favourites and break them down into takeaways that are still relevant for publishing today.
Over the last 15 years, we’ve had the pleasure of bringing you hundreds of Tech Forum sessions on topics such as accessibility, diversity and inclusion, publishing, bookselling, libraries, metadata, audiobooks, and ebooks. And we aren’t stopping any time soon — keep your eyes on our website for upcoming sessions.
Last time, we brought back Ashleigh Gardner and Dominique Raccah’s 2014 session on Publishing with an audience: An experiment from Sourcebooks and Wattpad. Today’s digestible takeaways are all the hottest emerging trends in the Canadian book industry.
Bon appétit!
Emerging trends: Book subjects on the move in the Canadian market
Soup’s on with this Tech Forum 2022 presentation Emerging trends: Book subjects on the move in the Canadian market led by BookNet Canada’s Monique Mongeon and Hannah Johnston.
In this session, Monique and Hannah explore the most up-to-date data to reveal the emerging trends in the types of books Canadians are buying and they identify five of the biggest 2021 sales trends we can expect to continue.
Here are five key takeaways from this session — the five biggest book subjects on the move:
Takeaway 1 — Comics & Graphic Novels
In 2021, the Canadian book market saw an increase in units sold in all age categories for Comics & Graphic Novels — for Adult, Juvenile, and Young Adult readers alike.
Adult sales increased 61% in 2021 over 2020;
Juvenile sales increased by 12%; and
Young Adult sales increased by 76%.
Of all the subcategories under Comics & Graphic Novels, Manga is the largest category and is responsible for the majority of the sales. Check out these blog posts for more about the sales of Comics & Graphics Novels and the sales of Manga titles in the Canadian market.
Takeaway 2 — The Environment
Canadian readers have a growing interest in the environment. Monique shares that there was a 137% sales increase for Science / Global Warming & Climate Change titles in 2021.
But it isn’t just titles about climate change that are attracting Canadian book buyers. Many other environment-related subjects also had big increases:
Life Sciences / Botany — up 1,757%
Earth Sciences / Meteorology & Climatology — up 1,067%
Life Sciences / Biology — up 36%
Takeaway 3 — #OwnVoices and LGBTQ+
#OwnVoices is a new BISAC category in 2021. It's specifically intended for books about members of historically marginalized groups written by authors with lived experience in those groups, as Hannah shares here.
The use of the term #OwnVoices is importantly a subject of debate within the industry. Looking at the sales of #OwnVoices titles over 2021, the largest increase came at the beginning of the year, when the category was first introduced.
But Canadian book buyers are still searching for and reading books that represent a variety of experiences, with the continued growth of other subjects like Diversity & Multicultural.
Hannah also highlights an increased interest for Canadian book buyers in LGBTQ+ Fiction sales — up 119% in 2021 altogether, across Adult, Juvenile, and Young Adult categories.
Find out more about Canadian’s readers interest in diverse books in our recent study On Diversity: A Survey of Canadian Readers 2021.
Takeaway 4 — Wellness
Wellness titles were also up in 2021 — a grouping that Monique describes as mental wellness, self-improvement, mindfulness, and more.
Two of the major wellness categories were:
Body, Mind, and Spirit — up 12% in 2021; and
Psychology — up 62% in 2021.
Other categories with wellness themes were also up in 2021, like Science and Self-Help. Read more about Canadian’s interest in the Body, Mind, and Spirit category in this blog post.
Takeaway 5 — #BookTok
There’s been a lot of attention on the impact of #BookTok on the Canadian book industry and the way that it boosts awareness of some backlist titles.
Like Monique explains, books highlighted on #BookTok span many different genres, like:
Young Adult Fiction — up 35%;
Fiction / Romance — up 7%;
Fiction / Women — up 14%;
Fiction / Science Fiction — up 27%; and
Fiction / Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology — up 49%.
While not all popular #BookTok subjects saw big changes year-over-year, like Fiction / Historical or Fiction / Literary, others may surprise you, including:
Business & Economics / Organizational Behaviour — up 71% or
Self-Help / Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) — up 162%.
Explore more about Canadians' interest in backlist titles with this blog series and discover more about #BookTok with our pair of recent Tech Forum sessions What makes #BookTokers tick: Everything publishers need to know and What makes #BookTokers tick part two: Even more of what publishers need to know.
Watch the full session below
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