Press room

Poetry sales increase again in 2017

Toronto, ON – March 7, 2018 – Rupi Kaur leads the category with two bestselling titles

For the second year in a row, unit sales in the Poetry category increased significantly, thanks in no small part to Canadian poet Rupi Kaur. In 2016, poetry sales increased 79% over 2015, and between 2016 and 2017 the units sold increased by another 154%. Kaur's book, The Sun and Her Flowers, sold the second-most in Canada in terms of volume in 2017, and her debut collection, Milk and Honey, also continued to perform well.

This and other insights are available in The Canadian Book Market 2017, released this week. BookNet Canada's tentpole publication reports on sales value, sales volume, and number of ISBNs with sales in 2017, as tracked by BNC SalesData, the national sales tracking service for the print English-language trade market in Canada. The report is a comprehensive guide to over 50 subject categories, complete with:

  • year-over-year comparative data;
  • market share for Canadian-owned publishers;
  • the top sellers in each category;
  • price-point analysis;
  • performance by publication date;
  • and lots more.

Also, included in this report for the first time is top-level data from BookNet Canada's Canadian Book Consumer research panel on format breakdowns and other buying trends.

A sample of the report is available at booknetcanada.ca/canadian-book-market, along with links to purchase. You can also take a look at our infographic.

Coming up later in 2018 will be BookNet's fourth annual report on the national digital publishing landscape, The State of Digital Publishing in Canada 2017, and the final installment of our Deep Dive genre studies, which will focus on Historical Fiction.

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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, and libraries across the country.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) for this project. / Nous reconnaissons l’appui financier du gouvernement du Canada par l’entremise du Fonds du livre du Canada (FLC) pour ce projet.
 

Media Contact:
Zalina Alvi
Marketing & Communications Manager
BookNet Canada
zalvi@booknetcanada.ca
(416) 362-5057 x 2250