The end of lockdown in England and Wales has helped propel Barack Obama’s memoir A Promised Land to the number one slot on the official UK top 50 for the third week running. Booksellers report strong Christmas sales across the board, but the president is leading the pack.
At Waterstones, chief operating officer Kate Skipper, said that footfall since re-opening had been “very encouraging”. She added: “We are delighted to have welcomed book lovers safely back into our English shops. The first weekend of December trading was very encouraging, with shoppers clearly pleased to be able to browse and discover new books in bookshops once again. The next priority is reopening the doors in our Northern Irish and Scottish shops, which we hope to do at the end of this week.”
Penguin Random House said it has sold more than 66,000 copies of Obama’s memoir in hardback through UK retailers last week, with its digital editions selling a further 24,251 units. In total, since publication on 17 November, the title has sold more than 340,000 copies across all editions in the UK and Ireland.
Meanwhile, Bookshop.org, the US-owned retail site focused on independents, says it has now made more than £500,000 for stores in just over a month since its launch. The company gives indies 30% of the cover price of titles sold through its storefronts. Browsers on the Bookshop.org site can enter their postcode and then be directed to their local independent store’s online shopfront.