[PREVIEW] The Canadian Book Market 2021

2021

Canadian Book Market

A comprehensive overview of sales performance within the Canadian book industry for 2021.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 5 7 9 12 14 16 18

Terms of Use Introduction Definitions Consumer Research French Canadian Market Total Market Canadian-Owned Publishers Canadian Contributors

20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40

Fiction

42 92 92 44 92 46 48 50 52 92 54 56 92 93 58 60 93 62 93 64 66 93 68 93 93 93 94 94 94 94

Classics Fantasy General Historical Literary Mystery & Detective Romance Science Fiction Thrillers Women

Non-Fiction Antiques & Collectibles Architecture Art Bibles Biography & Autobiography Body, Mind & Spirit Business & Economics Comics & Graphic Novels Computers Cooking Crafts & Hobbies Design Drama Education Family & Relationships Foreign Language Study Games Gardening Health & Fitness History House & Home Humour Language Arts & Disciplines Law Literary Collections Literary Criticism Mathematics Medical Music

70 94 94 94 95 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 95 95 95 90 95

Nature Performing Arts Pets Philosophy Photography Poetry Political Science Psychology Reference Religion Science Self-Help Social Science Sports & Recreation Study Aids Technology & Engineering Transportation Travel True Crime

96 98 100

Young Adult Fiction Young Adult Non-Fiction

102 104 106

Young Adult (YA)

Juvenile Juvenile Fiction Juvenile Non-Fiction

BNC Research | The Canadian Book Market 2021

4

INTRODUCTION Welcome to the 2021 edition of The Canadian Book Market, compiled by BookNet Canada.

BookNet Canada is a non-profit organization that develops technology, standards, and education to serve the Canadian book industry. Founded in 2002 to address systemic challenges in the industry, BookNet Canada supports publishing companies, booksellers, wholesalers, distributors, sales agents, industry associations, literary agents, media, and libraries across the country.

BookNet Canada’s services and research help companies promote and sell books, streamline workflows, and analyze and adapt to a rapidly changing market. BookNet Canada sets technology standards and educates organizations about how to apply them, performs market research, and tracks 85% of all Canadian English-language print trade book sales through BNC SalesData.

Industry-led and partially funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage, BookNet Canada has become, as The Globe and Mail puts it, “the book industry’s supply-chain nerve centre.”

BookNet Canada acknowledges that its staff, board, and partners work upon the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Anishnawbe, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat Indigenous Peoples, the original nations of this land. We endorse the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and support an ongoing shift from gatekeeping to spacemaking in the book industry.

BookNet Canada produces this annual report as part of our commitment to provide members of the Canadian book supply chain with the information they need to innovate and compete in today’s market. Annual editions of The Canadian Book Market are comprehensive guides to the Canadian print market. There is high-level quantitative analysis for more than 50 categories, along with comparative data from the prior year for quick and easy year-over-year analysis. The focus is on English-language print trade book sales at Canadian retailers; other markets, such as direct institutional sales to schools or college/university textbook sales are not included.

What’s included in The Canadian Book Market (CBM): Top-level consumer data from BookNet’s Canadian Book Consumer survey panel: • T op 10 ways that buyers became aware of the book they bought and the top 10 reasons they decided to purchase that book • Purchases by channel in 2020 and 2021 • Top 10 reasons buyers chose to buy their book where they did • Purchases by format in 2020 and 2021 • Average price paid by buyers, perceived value, and whether buyers paid full price for their books by format French Canadian trade book market sales data from the Société de gestion de la Banque de titres de langue française (BTLF): • Top-level data: total value, volume, and a market breakdown by subject • Top-selling French-language titles in Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Juvenile & YA English Canadian trade book market sales data by subject, and for Canadian-owned publishers and Canadian Contributors, from BNC SalesData: • T op-level data: total value, volume, percent change, and subject share of the total market, of comparable stores, and all stores • Unit sales by week for comparable stores • Weekly sales analysis: value and volume for median and average weeks, as well as for best and slowest weeks • Market shares by volume for the top 10 ranked publishers and distributors • Top-selling titles by format (hardcover and paperback) • Median and average pricing by format • Unit sales distribution by format

BNC Research | The Canadian Book Market 2021

5

More about SalesData and included information: In 2021, there were 2,891 store locations reporting physical book sales to BNC SalesData — chain bookstores, independent bookstores, newsstands, general retailers, online retailers, and library wholesalers. Based on publisher feedback, we estimate that BNC SalesData represents 85% of book industry sales — English-language print trade book sales; other markets, such as direct institutional sales to schools or college/university textbook sales are not included.

Since the last edition, we’ve updated the list of retailers contributing to the comparable stores data. Comparable stores are a fixed group of retailers that have reported sales consistently since 2020. When we aggregate their sales we provide a more accurate view of the year-over-year market and individual category fluctuations that is not skewed by the addition of any new reporting retailers. The comparable stores (approximately 1,160 retailers) represent about 93% of the total market in 2021. Totals for comparable stores do not reflect totals for the whole market.

Data is drawn from the bibliographic information available at the time of production. Data, such as BISAC subject codes, contributor, and list price, that was not reported to R.R. Bowker and BNC SalesData is excluded. In those cases you will see “N/A” which indicates that bibliographic information was not supplied.

Different formats of the same book may appear under different subject categories. For example, publisher data may classify the hardcover edition as a Mystery and the mass-market edition as a Thriller.

Inside CBM: • W here a publisher or distributor is listed more than once (e.g., HarperCollins Publishers and HarperCollins Canada), the two listings often represent divisions from different countries (in this case, the US and Canada).

• All additional publishers and distributors not ranked in the top 10 are combined in the “Other” category.

Time period: Data for this edition of CBM compares data from 2021 with 2020, or looks only at 2021 data (market share graphs and top-selling titles).

The week-ending dates for 2020 and 2021 are: 2020

2021

First week

January 5, 2020

January 10, 2021

Last week

January 3, 2021

January 2, 2022

There were 53 weeks in 2020 and 52 weeks in 2021.

COVID-19 retail closures were from the week-ending March 15, 2020 to the week-ending May 24, 2020.

Many thanks: I would be remiss not to extend my thanks to the BookNet team for numerous hours spent extracting data, compiling numbers, reviewing graphs, and finally putting it all together in a cohesive manner. I would also like to acknowledge the ongoing support of the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Canada Book Fund, which made this publication possible.

Sincerely, Noah Genner President & CEO, BookNet Canada

BNC Research | The Canadian Book Market 2021

6

DEFINITIONS All Stores: All retailers that have reported sales to BNC SalesData.

Aggregate: Data combined from one or multiple stores.

Average: A sum of all values in a group divided by the number of values in that group.

Bibliographic information: All descriptive information on titles (e.g., author, title, publisher, subject) that publishers report to R.R. Bowker, BookNet’s primary bibliographic data provider.

Bind. / Binding Types: Different format categories for how books are physically produced.

• Hardcover books: o HT = Hardcover Trade • Paperback books: o TP = Trade Paperback o MM = Mass Market o TK = US-Tall Rack o DP = Digest Paperback BISAC subject codes: Are essentially genre codes. These codes are intended to guide shelving, categorization, merchandising, and marketing efforts.

Canadian contributor: A book’s author, editor, translator, and/or illustrator who is a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada. Canadian Contributors are noted by the publisher/distributor supplying bibliographic data according to rules agreed to by the BNC Canadian Bibliographic Committee (Identifying Canadian Authorship).

Canadian-owned publishers: Publishers with their main operational office located in Canada.

Category Share of Total Market: A subject’s sales expressed as a percentage of the market as a whole.

Comparable Stores: Aggregated sales from a fixed group of retailers that have reported sales consistently since 2020.

This allows for a more accurate view of the year-over-year market and individual category fluctuations or the addition of new reporting retailers.

Contributor: A book’s author, editor, translator, and/or illustrator.

Distributor: A company responsible for distribution (sales, order fulfillment, warehousing) of books to retailers and other sales channels.

Fiction: Literature in the form of prose, especially short stories and novels, that describes imaginary events and people.

Format information: Books’ binding type that publishers report to R.R. Bowker, BookNet’s primary bibliographic data provider.

• All Paper includes Mass Market, Trade Paper, and Other Paper • Other Paper includes Digest Paperback and US-Tall Rack Paperback • All Hardcover includes Hardcover Trade • Other includes Audio, Bath Book, Blank Book, Board Book, Calendar, Ebook, Map, Rag Book, Analog Game, Card, Kit, Mixed Media Product, Novelty Book, Picture Book, POS Materials, Sheet Music, Toy, Other Book Format, Other Media, Other Merchandise, Other Printed Materials

BNC Research | The Canadian Book Market 2021

7

DEFINITIONS ISBN: (International Standard Book Number) is a system of numerical identification for books and other published works. Each published work is assigned a unique number.

ISBNs Reported: The number of ISBNs sold, on hand, or on order.

Juvenile: BISAC subject codes intended for literature targeted to those aged 0 through 11 or in preschool through grade 6.

List Price: The price a publisher sets for a book. List price is used to calculate value, median pricing, and average pricing.

Median: When all data is arranged in a series from smallest to largest, the median is the value in the middle.

N/A: Information is not available.

Non-Fiction: Poetry or prose writing that is based on facts, real events, and real people, such as biography or history.

Percent Change: Difference in sales within specified category between 2021 and 2020 as a percentage. Calculated using volume.

Pricing information: The cost of the book, in Canadian currency, that publishers report to R.R. Bowker, BookNet’s primary bibliographic data provider. Median and average prices are calculated using list prices.

Publisher: A company responsible for preparing and issuing books.

Subject: BNC SalesData uses BISAC subject codes to classify books. (Filtering out records without bibliographic data filters out non-book items such as bookmarks and coffee cups.)

Total Market: The aggregate total of all books sold that have both an ISBN and a bibliographic record, as reported to and tracked in BNC SalesData.

Value: The total sum of dollars (by list price) of units sold, calculated using the list price multiplied by the number of units sold.

Volume: The total sum of units sold.

Young Adult: BISAC subject codes intended for literature targeted to those aged 12 through 18 or in grades 7 through 12.

BNC Research | The Canadian Book Market 2021

8

SUBJECT ANALYSIS | NON-FICTION | Comparable Stores

SPORTS & RECREATION All Stores

Value

Volume

Value

Volume

ISBNs Reported

ISBNs with Sales

$1,084,814,957

50,230,116

$1,122,912,117

52,827,913

857,454

641,430

Sports & Recreation 2021

$6,172,120

226,638

$6,243,665

229,289

10,022

7,836

Sports & Recreation 2020

$9,045,478

320,847

$9,690,634

344,694

10,134

7,934

-31.8%

-29.4%

-35.6%

-33.5%

-1.1%

-1.2%

0.6%

0.5%

0.6%

0.4%

1.2%

1.2%

Total Market 2021

Percent Change Category Share of Total Market

UNIT SALES BY WEEK - COMPARABLE STORES

SPORTS & RECREATION represents

0.4%

of all unit sales WEEKLY SALES ANALYSIS Value 2021

2020

Median Week

$96,283

$124,967

Average Week

$120,070

$182,842

Best Week

$385,391

$670,318

$75,722

$67,721

Slowest Week

Volume Median Week Average Week Best Week Slowest Week

PUBLISHER MARKET SHARE - VOLUME SOLD

2021

2020

3,439

4,967

4,409

6,503

14,919

22,940

2,782

2,582

DISTRIBUTOR MARKET SHARE - VOLUME SOLD

BNC Research | The Canadian Book Market 2021

88

SUBJECT ANALYSIS | NON-FICTION |

SPORTS & RECREATION

TOP 10 HARDCOVER Title

Contributor

ISBN

Publisher

Bind.

The Mamba Mentality: How I Play

Bryant, Kobe

9780374201234

Farrar, Straus & Giroux

HT

List Price $45.50

The MeatEater Guide to Wilderness Skills and Survival

Rinella, Steven

9780593129692

Random House Publishing Group

HT

$34.00

Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable

Grover, Tim S.; Wenk, Shari

9781476710938

Scribner

HT

$36.00

Mox

Moxley, Jon

9781637580387

Permuted Press

HT

$37.00

A League of Our Own: Celebrating the Canadian Division

Cox, Damien; Podnieks, Andrew

9781552674703

Indigo Books & Music Inc.

HT

$20.00

Unguarded

Pippen, Scottie; Arkush, Michael

9781982165192

Atria Books

HT

$37.00

Fabric of the Game: The Stories Behind the NHL's Names, Logos, and Uniforms

Creamer, Chris; Radom, Todd; McDonald, Lanny

9781683583844

Skyhorse Publishing Company, Inc.

HT

$33.99

Rapture: Fifteen Teams, Four Countries, One NBA Championship, and How to Find a Way to Win -- Damn near Anywhere

Nurse, Nick; Sokolove, Michael; Jackson, Phil

9780316540179

Little, Brown and Company

HT

$38.00

Everyday Hockey Heroes, Volume II: More Inspiring Stories about Our Great Game

McKenzie, Bob; Lang, Jim

9781982132705

Simon & Schuster, Inc.

HT

$34.99

It's Better to Be Feared: The New England Patriots and the World They Made

Wickersham, Seth

9781631498237

Liveright Publishing Corporation

HT

$40.00

Title

Contributor

ISBN

Publisher

Bind.

Bushcraft 101

Canterbury, Dave

9781440579776

Adams Media Corporation

TP

$22.99

SAS Survival Guide: How to Survive in the Wild, on Land or Sea

Wiseman, John “Lofty”

9780008133788

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

TP

$10.99

The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs

Gooley, Tristan

9781615192410

The Experiment LLC

TP

$23.50

The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game: Volume 1

Rinella, Steven; Hafner, John

9780812994063

Random House Publishing Group

TP

$37.00

Destination Hikes: In and Around Southwestern British Columbia

Hui, Stephen; Point, Cecilia

9781771645300

Greystone Books Ltd.

TP

$24.95

The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game: Volume 2

Rinella, Steven; Hafner, John

9780812987058

Random House Publishing Group

TP

$37.00

Ben Hogan's Five Lessons

Hogan, Ben

9780671612979

Touchstone

TP

$22.00

Bearcat Murray: From Ol' Potlicker to Calgary Flames Legend

Murray, Jim; Johnson, George

9781629379142

Triumph Books

TP

$24.87

Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable

Grover, Tim S.; Wenk, Shari

9781476714202

Scribner

TP

$23.00

The Ultimate Montreal Canadiens Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Habs Fans!

Walker, Ray

9781953563187

HRP House

TP

$14.95

TOP 10 PAPERBACK

MEDIAN AND AVERAGE PRICING

List Price

FORMAT DISTRIBUTION

Median List Price

Average List Price All Paper

2021

2020

69.8%

54.7%

0.1%

0.1%

2021

2020

2021

2020

All Formats

$24.99

$24.95

$28.40

$27.94

Mass Market

Mass Market

$12.99

$12.99

$13.89

$12.35

Trade Paper

69.2%

54.6%

Trade Paper

$23.99

$23.95

$25.20

$25.07

Other Paper

0.4%

0.0%

Hardcover Trade

$35.00

$34.99

$39.02

$38.03

All Hardcover

27.4%

43.2%

2.9%

2.1%

Other

BNC Research | The Canadian Book Market 2021

89

Copyright © 2022 BookNet Canada. All rights reserved.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) for this project.

BNC Research | The Canadian Book Market 2021

108