Although indie booksellers contended with unprecedented shipping delays and other problems during a holiday season that began on November 28, most of those reporting to PW declared that it still was a good one, with plenty of surprises.
The Correspondent, Virginia Evans's heartwarming debut novel was, unexpectedly, a major seller, and the demand for Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid (Carina Press), the romance about two gay hockey stars recently adapted into a hit series on HBO, took many booksellers by surprise.
Jason Kennedy, the manager of Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee called this holiday season “quick and successful for the most part,” noting that “customers were willing to spend money as a version of retail therapy, and books are a much better value than other forms of entertainment.” Janet Webster Jones of Source Booksellers in Detroit echoed these sentiments, pointing out a “noticeable increase in sales of fiction that was escapist and/or uplifting.” As a result, she said, she saw a 17% sales bump over last year at her store.
In nonfiction, historical narratives ruled, especially the unanticipated national bestseller Gales of November by John U. Bacon (Liveright), about the 1976 sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior. A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst (Riverhead) was another hot pick.
There were fewer surprises with children’s books: the Christmas classics prevailed, as did such new releases as If We Were Dogs by Sophie Blackall (Little Brown BYR); Partypooper (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #20) by Jeff Kinney (Amulet); and Big Jim Believes (Dog Man #14) by Dav Pilkey (Graphix).
The biggest surprise this year “wasn't what sold, but how many more copies we sold,” Boswell’s Kennedy said, “nothing ran away like James did last year, but the books I thought would sell, sold even better than I thought they would.”
Boswell’s children’s buyer, Jen Steele, added that while "the usual suspects" like the latest Dogman and Wimpy Kid sold well, so did two middle grade sleepers from small presses: The Village Beyond the Mist by Sachiko Kashiwaba, illustrated by Miho Satake (Yonder); and The Adventures of Cipollino by Gianni Rodari, illustrated by Dasha Tolstikova (Enchanted Lion). “I think it's fantastic that our customers gravitated towards these translated and whimsical novels,” she said.
Praveen Madan of Kepler's Books in Menlo Park, Calif., praised his staff for being “successful at keeping the bookstore stocked with most titles we needed”—including The Correspondent, which, to Madan’s surprise, went from 12 copies sold in November to 172 copies in December.
John Evans of Camino Books in Del Mar, Calif. also reported that The Correspondent was a big hit. “Nothing else popped out and took the field,” he said, “so we sold a diverse range of titles and helped people find just the right book for each person.”
Surprises in store
At Books & Books in Coral Gables, Fla., The Correspondent and 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin (Viking), about the stock market crash that year, were top sellers. While both were hard to keep in stock, head buyer Gaël LeLamer said that the store had “luckily anticipated” most of its bestsellers and it was a “great holiday season” that exceeded 2024 sales.
LeLamer said she was most surprised by the demand for Heated Rivalry, adding, “all the Rachel Reid books are flying off the shelf and taking a while to come back in.”
Sarah Pishko of Prince Books in Norfolk, Va., said The Correspondent was the store’s bestseller, along with The Look by Michelle Obama (Crown). In children’s, If We Were Dogs was the bestseller, which Pishko attributed to Ann Patchett plugging it on PBS News Hour.
“The morning after that episode aired,” Pishko said, “we were floored with phone requests for Ann Patchett’s favorite books. One bookseller posted on Facebook that she wished Ann would have warned us ahead of the show.”
Signed books left over from events held throughout the year were the top sellers at Brave + Kind Books in Decatur, Ga., as well as The Look. Atlanta resident Nic Stone’s self-published YA novel, Little Spark, was also a customer favorite. Store owner Bunnie Hilliard said that in the store’s seven years in business, this holiday season “was one of our busiest yet.” Along with five other Black woman-owned indies in the Atlanta metro area, Brave + Kind also hosted its second Black Girl Book Fair, “to close the year strong and festive.”
At Main Street Books in St Charles, Mo., Emily Hall Schroen said that the store pulled in $1,000 more than last year, with fiction topping the store’s adult bestsellers list. “Less than a percent increase,” she said, “but still, it was a victory” despite being “tackled from behind the last week of the season” by a surge in requests for Heated Rivalry. “We were able to get some in, and we took a lot of special orders for the rest.”
The Correspondent and Gales of November were also "the big winners" at Copper Dog Books in Beverly, Mass., said owner Meg Wasmer. “A non-political dude book about a nautical disaster was actually low-hanging Christmas fruit,” Wasmer said. “It’s what we sold to everyone who bought [David Grann’s] The Wager last year.”
Anne Holman of The King’s English in Salt Lake City said the bookstore had “a great season,” despite some difficulties stocking The Correspondent and If We Were Dogs. But, she added, “nonfiction was the winner for us,” with Gales of November flying off shelves. “Who doesn't love a good shipwreck story?”
