The Giller Effect Comes On Strong After Initial Stock Shortage
TORONTO — December 10, 2010 All the pent-up demand for 2010 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner has translated into brisk business for booksellers this week. With the release of the trade paperback edition from Douglas & McIntyre, the title has seen a huge sales spike. This week, The Sentimentalists is the #1 bestselling fiction title in Canada, beating out heavy hitters, including Stieg Larsson and Dan Brown.
The recent spike in sales suggests that enthusiasm for the book has not waned and the book’s sales will follow a similar trajectory to those of the previous Giller winner’s. In past years, the Giller Effect on sales has been immediately apparent, and Giller winners have remained strong sellers throughout the holiday season. This year, after a highly publicized two-week stock delay, things look to be back on track for the holidays. The print book’s rate of sale, including both the Gaspereau Press and the Douglas & McIntyre editions, is now comparable to those of the previous winning books.
“The Giller Prize has once again done a great job of highlighting Canadian books,” says Noah Genner, CEO of BookNet Canada. “The solution to the supply issues was a uniquely Canadian one, a little East Coast and a little West Coast, and it managed to make the winner available to a reading public that seems to have been patiently waiting.”
The Scotiabank Giller Prize awards $50,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English and $5,000 to each of the finalists.
All statistics are drawn from sales tracked by BNC SalesData, Canada’s national book sales tracking service. For more Scotiabank Giller Prize analysis and more information on BookNet Canada and BNC SalesData visit BookNet Canada’s website at www.booknetcanada.ca.
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About BookNet Canada
BookNet Canada is the not-for-profit agency created by the Canadian book industry and the Department of Canadian Heritage to facilitate improvements in the book industry supply chain. It provides services and develops standards and certification in areas including electronic commerce via EDI (Electronic Document Interchange), bibliographic data, and analysis of point-of-sales and other supply chain data. BookNet acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for its initiatives.
