The value of print books sold in Canada totaled C$1.13 billion ($850 million) in 2018, with 54.7 million units sold. Both figures were basically flat with 2017. The data was released today by BookNet Canada and BNC SalesData, the national sales tracking service.
According to BookNet,adult nonfiction print unit sales rose 1.5%, but fiction unit sales dropped 0.5% for fiction. The juvenile/young adult segment had a slight loss in market share in the year, falling to 39.5% of all books sold from 40% in 2017. Forty percent of print books sold were front list titles, with backlist representing the remaining 60%.
The bestselling book of the year was MIchelle Obama's Becoming, followed by Mark Manson's The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, which was Canada's bestselling print book of 2017. In the third and fourth spots were 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson, the bestselling Canadian author of the year, and Educated by Tara Westover.
Other Canadian authors among the year's bestsellers were Yum and Yummer by Greta Podleski (Granet), The Sun and Her Flowers (Simon and Schuster) and Milk and Honey (Andrews McMeel Publishing), both by Rupi Kaur.
