Okay, I know it’s the question you’ve all been asking, ever since the Public Lending Right figures, which denote library borrowings in the UK, were announced yesterday: where on the list did I come?
Top of the combined list of Adult and Children’s authors is James Patterson, who also, therefore, tops the list of the 20 most borrowed authors of Adult Fiction [no official mention on the PLR site I visited of the various co-writers he employs, nor any details as to whether he shares a percentage of his PLR earnings around the staff]. Sticking with the Adult list, amongst the crime fraternity, Lee Child clocks in an number 7, Michael Connelly at 9 and Harlan Coben at 10; Ian Rankin coasts in at 20, just behind Agatha Christie.
Longer lists of Adult Fiction authors alone don’t seem to be available; the figures that go beyond 20 – go on, in fact, to 400 – are for Adult and Children’s authors combined, and on that list I am positioned at number 283, a little way behind Michael Bond, of Paddington fame – that’s the bear not the station – and the historical novelist Elizabeth Chadwick, with whom I once shared an agent and, I believe, a post code. Close behind me come a varied group including P. G Wodehouse, Andrea Camilleri, Bill Bryson and Robert Harris.
Last year, by the way, I was 220th and the year before that 157th … There’s a message there and I’m doing my best to ignore it.
Just shows your readers are of a more discerning type, who don’t just automatically look at the best sellers list!
the message is,”statistics be damned”! Also, your buyers BUY your books-not borrow them,
But with regards to my readers, it also shows, on a week by week basis, there are less of them.
That made me laugh out loud. Subliminal messages in the PLR report. Pshaw. I think that’s a word.
You need to do something heroic or controversial-rescue a cat from the Thames or form a one man protest group against something we all hate. Then you will be invited to be a guest on some afternoon chatshow where you can mercilessly promote your books, and your readership will increase!
It only shows that there are fewer “borrowers”-not fewer readers. How do the sales figures hold up?
How can Lee Child be ahead of you and Ian Rankin? He always writes the same formulaic story. Some people have no imagination.
Bernie : Some people like what they are most familiar with, something that is unchallenging but gives the same kind of pleasure; I suppose a bit like hankering after a Big Whopper and fries or – my own favourite – a brace of jam doughnuts from Percy Ingle, Bakers.
Pat : The sales figures seem to be holding up reasonably well, considering the state of the market and high street book sales in particular. But my books have rarely, if ever, enjoyed the high sales figures of the biggies in the trade; respectable, but little more. And now, with ebook sales nudging new readers (and old) towards the back list, it seems that overall sales are looking pretty fair – I doubt if Random House/Arrow would be going to the expense of rejacketing everything if this weren’t the case. And there are still fresh opportunities overseas – the Frank Elder books, for instance, are about to appear in Norway for the first time this year.
Does it seem possible that the “reading”public rquires less demanding,more formulaic writing?i,.e. Patterson(et al), Childs, even Grisham and looking at the list,the lightest novelilsts pretty much command the list. (I lifted the list from another blog) Anyway, I’m happy that YOUR readers are a discerning and faithful audience so keep on doing what you do so well!
John, you’re always the best read here at Datchet Library! Looking forward to seeing you at the Poetry Cafe in April. Hope all is well, Eve
Eve :
How nice to hear from you! Molly and I were at Rugby Library last night for an event and she was saying, however good that was going to be, Datchet was her favourite of all. See you in April.