2011 was a year many in Australia’s book industry would be happy to forget. The industry suffered a great deal due to the collapse of Redgroup book chain, the Australian owners of Borders stores and also the locally iconic Angus & Robertson book shops.
While the industry suffered as a result, with sales dropping by 7.1 per cent to 60.4 million books, some authors and publishers managed to succeed in a somewhat depressed market, with one author cracking the Top 10 best-seller list an extraordinary three times.
Australia’s Best Selling Books: 2011’s Top 10 List
1. Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals by Jamie Oliver – 221,000 copies sold
Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals has emulated in Australia the success it experienced in Britain where it became fastest selling non-fiction title of all time, selling at a rate of 80,000 copies per week. Despite this success, 2011’s number-one best-selling book sold significantly less copies than 2010’s best seller, Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo which sold 325,000 copies that year.
2. Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney – 200,000 copies sold
The sixth instalment in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series was a huge hit with young Australian readers, selling 200,000 copies in 2011 despite hitting the shelves only in late November. This success was mirrored in the US where the book had an initial print run of six million copies, the biggest first printing of any of the Wimpy Kids books to date and a huge quantity in the world of children’s publishing.
3. Inheritance by Christopher Paolini – 134,000 copies sold
Also released late in 2011, Inheritance marks the last instalment in the epic four-novel Inheritance Cycle fantasy series. Popular worldwide, Inheritance sold nearly half a million copies on the first day of its release in the United States.
4. Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves by Matthew Reilly – 124,000 copies sold
Matthew Reilly’s Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves was the best-selling book by an Australian author in 2011 and also the number-one adult fiction book.
5. Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult – 101,000 copies sold
Sing You Home tells the story of a lesbian woman fighting to use the frozen embryos created by her and her ex-husband. Ellen Degeneres has acquired movies rights for the book and plans to act as one of the film’s producers.
6. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson – 97,000 copies sold
This biography was originally planned for release in March 2012 but was rushed to print after the death of Steve Jobs in October 2011. The book draws on more than 40 interviews between Isaacson and Jobs conducted over two years.
7. The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney – 96,000 copies sold
The fifth book in the Wimpy Kid series sees protagonist Greg facing puberty and finding himself dealing with the pressures of boy-girl parties and more. The ugly truth is everyone has to grow up sometime, and Australia readers are definitely happy to be along for the ride.
8. The Opal Desert by Di Morrissey – 92,000 copies sold
Di Morrissey is one of the most successful writers in Australia today.The Opal Desert was her 20th novel published in 20 years and continues her unbroken run of best-sellers. Morrissey's first book, Heart of the Dreaming, was published in 1991.
9. Guinness World Records 2012 – 85,000 copies sold
An annual Christmas purchase for many families, the Guiness World Records book series itself holds a world record, as the best-selling copyrighted book series of all time.
10. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney – 85,000 copies sold
The original in the Wimpy Kid series, first published in 2007, remains a best-seller in Australia. Jeff Kinney also had a further three titles in Top 20 best-selling books in Australia in 2011.
Sources
Nielson Book Data, Nielson Book Data 2011 Report
'Troublesome year for bookshops as sales falter', The Age, January 7, 2012
Di Morrissey author profile, Pan MacMillan, accessed January 10, 2012
Cate Allan - Cate Allan is a Melbourne-based writer and editor. She has published widely on language, travel and the arts.
