Booker prize shortlist breaks sales records

This year’s avowedly populist shortlist appears to be going down very well with readers Accusations of “dumbing down” were levelled at this year’s Man Booker shortlist when the judges aimed for “readability” above all, but it turns out readability was exactly what the public were looking for after the six novels competing for this year’s prize became the most popular Booker line-up since records began. Headed by AD Miller’s Moscow-set thriller Snowdrops , this year’s Booker shortlist has sold more than double the number of copies of the shortlist last year, when Howard Jacobson’s The Finkler Question beat novels including Emma Donoghue’s Room and titles by Peter Carey and Andrea Levy to win the prize. Industry magazine the Bookseller reveals that since this year’s shortlist was announced on 6 September, the six books have sold 37,500 copies, up 127% on last year and 105% on the previous record in 2009 , when Hilary Mantel’s historical novel Wolf Hall went on to win. Snowdrops is the most popular novel on the shortlist, with 11,800 copies sold, followed by the 19th century-set Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch (9,000), Julian Barnes’s novella The Sense of an Ending (6,400), Stephen Kelman’s debut Pigeon English (3,900), Patrick deWitt’s western The Sisters Brothers (3,500) and Esi Edugyan’s Half Blood Blues (2,800), about the disappearance of a black trumpeter during the second world war. The Bookseller attributes the popularity of the shortlist partly to the fact that two of the novels are already available in a cheap, mass-market format, with even the most expensive of the titles selling for £12.99. “All six novels can currently be purchased at UK booksellers for a total of £65.94 – down 36% (or £37) on 2010′s selections,” said charts editor Philip Stone. It is also undoubtedly down to the judges’ attempts to pick, as chair Stella Rimington put it, “readable” books. “We want people to buy these books and read them, not buy them and admire them,” she said on announcing the shortlist , while fellow judge Chris Mullin said the titles “had to zip along” to make it into the final line-up. As critics lined up to slam judges’ unexpected selection, which included two debut novelists ahead of titles by former winner Alan Hollinghurst and Costa winner Sebastian Barry, judge Susan Hill tweeted “Hurrah! Man Booker judges accused of ‘dumbing down.’ They mean our shortlist is readable and enjoyable.” At Waterstone’s, Jon Howells said today that “the naysayers who criticised this shortlist for a perceived lack of household names have been shamed by the book-buying public, who have been as ready to try someone new from the list as they have to read Julian Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending”. But at top end bookselling chain Foyles, Jonathan Ruppin said he had seen a “less marked” lift in sales than in previous years. “Literary prizes at their best are a way of getting something more challenging and original into the hands of readers, books with timeless qualities that aren’t always easily promotable,” he said. “While this year’s selection is undoubtedly an eye-catching one, it’s also more overtly commercial than in other years and we’d hate to see the Man Booker prioritise entertainment over literary merit.” Booker prize 2011 Julian Barnes Carol Birch Stephen Kelman Patrick DeWitt Esi Edugyan AD Miller Fiction Awards and prizes Alison Flood guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 26, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.