Need some hard-hitting facts for a pitch document or to convince a client that books are a great incentive item? Several research companies specialise in running focus groups and omnibus surveys for the publishing industry. So, let us know what's needed and we'll see what can be made available. Here are a few book facts for starters...


UK consumers bought an estimated 348m books in 2005, worth £2.7bn. Year-on-year sales increased 9% by volume and 12% in value*

Over 100,000 new titles are published in the UK each year. That said, the top 100 paperback titles accounted for 16% of sales in 2005.

ABC1s accounted for 61% of unit sales in 2005. However, the growth sector continues to be the C2Ds which now accounts for 35% of all sales.

Media book clubs, such as those run by "Richard & Judy" and the Daily Mail, continue to have a huge influence on sales.

Children's books were worth an estimated £401m in 2005 (17% of consumer spend). This represents a 38% increase in spend and a 18% increase by volume on 2004.*

Growth in children's book sales came from all age groups, but in particular the 8-11s. Childrens fiction accounted for 73% of spend.*

59% of adults and 70% of children claim to read a book at least once a week.

Women are the main purchasers of children's books – accounting for 4 out of every 5 books bought.*

60% of consumer book purchases are made by women. However, a large number of these purchases are books bought for children. When children's books are excluded, purchases split 52% women, 48% men.*

The Harry Potter books continue to out-perform all other children's titles. 3.5m copies were sold in 2005. That said, titles by Philip Pullman, Anthony Horowitz and Jacqueline Wilson were also mega sellers.

The Da Vinci Code plus three other novels by Dan Brown dominated the 2005 fiction bestsellers lists, with sales of 5.5m copies. Next in line were Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, Marian Keyes' The Other Side of the Story and John Grisham's The Broker.

Jeremy Clarkson's The World According to Clarkson was the 2005 non-fiction bestseller, followed by Jamie's Italy (Jamie Oliver) and Sharon Osbourne's Extreme.

Six times as many thrillers and crime novels were bought as romantic novels and sagas.* Dan Brown, John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell, Michael Crichton and Ian Rankin topped the 2005 list.

20% of books were purchased via the Internet (9%) and supermarkets (11%) during 2005. These two sectors hardly existed 10 years ago.*

The world's No 1 fiction author is Agatha Christie. Her crime novels have sold an estimated 2 billion copies.

The bestseller of all time (excluding non-copyright titles) is The Guinness Book of Records - now retitled Guinness World Records. The book was first published in 1955. Sales exceed 90 million copies.

* Books and the Consumer (c) BML/TNS 2006, as published in Publishing News

Want the lowdown on what UK adults and children were buying and reading last week? Then visit the Nielsen BookScan Website for a list of the Hot 100 and other bestseller lists.

Each week BookScan collects data on some 140,000 different titles from over 6,000 retailers. The data is coded and analysed, providing complete market information for retailers, publishers, libraries, agents and the media - and all within 72 hours of the week ending Saturday.

Book Marketing Ltd's knowledge of the book market is unparalleled. The company offers a complete range of quantitative and qualitative research services, from large-scale fully structured surveys to focus groups and individual customer interviews. BML's flagship survey, Books and the Consumer, has been running since 1989 and provides detailed information on buying habits. It's based on a TNS panel of 10,000 individuals aged 12-74.