Welcome to a new instalment of our Subject spotlight blog series where we share quarterly data-driven insights into a specific corner of the Canadian book market.
Last month we talked about Thrillers. This time, we’re leaving the nail-biting stories behind to immerse ourselves in the Biography & Autobiography world.
In our annual Canadian Book Consumer Study, we track the popularity of book subjects purchased by Canadian book buyers throughout the year. Based on data collected in 2021, Biography or Memoirs are the most popular Non-Fiction category purchased by Canadians, accounting for 20% of all purchases.
As usual, we’ll look at the sales and library performance of these books in the fourth quarter of 2021 with the help of our SalesData and LibraryData services.
Buying Biography & Autobiography books
If we take a look at Biography & Autobiography book sales between October and November 2020, we see that they increased by 94%, and that they continued to grow from November to December seeing an increase of 31%.
In 2021, the pattern is similar. Sales from October to November increased by 46%, and from November to December by 56%.
Now, when we do a year-over-year comparison, we can see that the performance of this subject was significantly better in 2020. Starting with October, there’s a year-over-year difference of 22%, in November the gap is more significant (41%), and in December there’s a difference of 30%.
Looking at all the Non-Fiction / Biography & Autobiography subcategories, we notice that some had large year-over-year increases in sales during the fourth quarter of the year:
Non-Fiction / Biography & Autobiography / Editors, Journalists, Publishers — up 1,281%
Non-Fiction / Biography & Autobiography / Adventurers & Explorers — up 200%
Non-Fiction / Biography & Autobiography / Culinary — up 176%
From October to December 2021, the most purchased Biography & Autobiography subcategories were:
Non-Fiction / Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs — 44% of all Biography & Autobiography sales
Non-Fiction / Biography & Autobiography / Women — 7% of all Biography & Autobiography sales
Non-Fiction / Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts — 6% of all Biography & Autobiography sales
Borrowing Biography & Autobiography books
At Canadian public libraries, Biography & Autobiography titles performed differently. The best year for this subject in terms of both loans and renewals was 2021.
In 2020, loans from October to November decreased by 18%, and from November to December they increased by 2%. In 2021, loans from October and November and November to December increased by 2% in each period.
Year-over-year, book loans for this subject increased on average by 25% from 2020 to 2021, renewals increased on average by 17%.
Which BISAC Biography & Autobiography titles were most popular? From October to December 2021, these subcategories saw the greatest increases in library circulation compared to 2020:
Non-Fiction / Biography & Autobiography / Military — loans up 132% and renewals up 40%
Non-Fiction / Biography & Autobiography / Environmentalists & Naturalists — loans up 91%, renewals 47%
Non-Fiction / Biography & Autobiography / Philosophers — loans up 65%, renewals 46%
During the fourth quarter of 2021, the most circulated Biography & Autobiography subcategories were:
Non-Fiction / Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs — 35% of all Biography & Autobiography loans and renewals
Non-Fiction / Biography & Autobiography / General — 10% of all Biography & Autobiography loans and renewals
Non-Fiction / Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts — 8% of all Biography & Autobiography loans and renewals
Reading Biography & Autobiography books
These are the top selling and top borrowed Biography & Autobiography titles for the fourth quarter of 2021.
Top borrowed
S Street Rising by Ruben Castaneda
Tragedy Plus Time by Adam Cayton-Holland
A History of Silence by Lloyd Jones
Billy Bishop: Top Canadian Flying Ace by Dan McCaffery 🍁
Death of a King by Tavis Smiley and David Ritz
Top selling
Talking to Canadians by Rick Mercer 🍁
No One Wins Alone by Mark Messier and Jimmy Roberts 🍁
Will by Will Smith and Mark Manson
Off the Record by Peter Mansbridge 🍁
Indian in the Cabinet by Jody Wilson-Raybould 🍁
Stay tuned for future instalments of this series or sign up to our eNews for more digestible data on the Canadian book market.
Until next time!
A deep dive into book prices in Canada from our upcoming Canadian Book Consumer Study 2023.