BookNet Canada is reporting that Canadian book sales in the third quarter of 2010 were down in both unit sales and dollar value when compared with third quarter results in 2009. Overall, the market is down 3.3% in the number of books sold and by 4.3% in value (unit sales multiplied by list price). Every category was down from 2009 levels.


Fiction volume was down by 4.2%, and the same in value. BookNet CEO Noah Genner said the category did benefit from movie-ties, particularly Eat, Pray, Love, and the Stieg Larrson books were still selling very well during the third quarter, which spans July, August and September. Among Canadian titles, Lawrence Hill’s 2007 novel The Book of Negroes was still a top seller.

YA fared better, down by smaller degrees of 2.6% in unit sales and 2.0% in value. Suzanne Collins’ Mockingjay series sold very well, fueled especially by the release of the third book, Genner noted.


Non-fiction was hardest hit--down by 5.2% in unit sales and 7.2% in dollar value, but Genner noted that larger drop is consistent with the category’s decline for about the last year and a half and is also in keeping with similar drops in other markets outside Canada as well. “I think that a lot of that…is moving to electronic, not just e-book but also online,” he said, acknowledging that BookNet doesn't yet track e-book sales. “It is those categories [technology and reference] we see moving downwards, less so biographies. They’re more in line with the decrease you’re seeing in the other categories, or even a little bit less of a decline.”

Genner said the fourth quarter has so far shown signs of matching 2009 sales levels. Hopes are pinned on good Christmas sales and sales bumps for the Scotiabank Giller Prize winner announced last week and the other shortlisted titles. “We have traditionally in the last few years seen a good spike on both the Giller shortlist and obviously the winner,” said Genner. “And it is significant enough that it helps pull up the whole market a little bit. BookNet reported a 191% sales increase for shortlisted titles in the week following that announcement. And last year’s winner, Linden MacIntyre’s The Bishop’s Man, saw a 712% sales jump.

These year-over-year figures from BookNet are based on a fixed panel of 665 retail locations from across Canada.