New Sally Rooney book is biggest selling novel of 2021 - after just three days

Author Sally Rooney is having immediate success in the sales of her new book, 'Beautiful World, Where Are You'. Picture: Kalpesh Lathigra

The new novel from Sally Rooney is the bestselling fiction novel of the year at Waterstones - after just three days of sales.

James Daunt, managing director of Waterstones, said demand for Beautiful World, Where Are You has been enormous.

It was the bookseller’s third best selling fiction title for 2021 after one day's sales and is now the best-selling fiction title of the year after three days of sales.

Overseeing the operation of over 280 bookshops across Ireland and the UK, Mr Daunt said: “It is incredible. It is absolutely fantastic."

He said: “It is astonishing. Maybe astonishing is the wrong word as we were expecting sales to be enormous. Sales are running at double Normal People. It is a fantastic reception to the novel. We are really pleased for Sally Rooney. Our booksellers love her. She has been so generous and kind with her time and effort over the years and everyone is really happy for her."

The third novel by Sally Rooney, 'Beautiful World, Where Are You'. Which is the top-selling novel of 2021,  after just three days. Picture Dan Linehan

Waterstones operates Hodges & Figgis in Dublin and a Waterstones in Cork and on Monday, the Castlebar writer signed copies for fans at the Waterstones flagship store at Piccadilly in London ahead of the publication.

Mr Daunt said that since Waterstones re-opened after lockdown, book sales "have been incredibly strong".

He said that the appeal of Ms Rooney’s books are that they are “beautifully written and quietly and surreptitiously clever and they capture the nature of relationships and human emotion in a very wise and compelling way. At the same time, they have this wonderful narrative drive to them.” 

Mr Daunt said that the publication of the Sally Rooney novel “has filled up the shops again and sets us up for what is a crucial time of the year and we need a good Christmas to get us back into shape after what has been a pretty terrible 18 months".

'Walking out the door'

Store Manager at Hodges & Figgis in Dublin, Tony Hayes said on Thursday that sales of the new Sally Rooney novel “have been non-stop”.

He said: 

"They are walking out the door. We did an early morning opening on Tuesday and sales of the book never stopped the entire day."

Out of the Waterstones 280+ strong store network, Mr Hayes said that Hodges & Figgis has sold the most copies of the novel to date.

He said: “We are leading the pack and it has been phenomenal. It will be our best selling fiction title by a mile this year. Even today, sales of the novel are fantastic."

Mr Hayes said that the Rooney novel has lifted the book sales of other writers since its release with people buying other books along with their copy of Beautiful World Where Are You.

Mr Hayes said that Hodges & Figgis has sufficient copies in stock and on order to meet current demand.

Mr Hayes said that business is good when you take into account the absence of office and tourist trade currently.

Ellie Mahony, Bandon, at Waterstones, Cork, with her copies of the third novel by Sally Rooney, Beautiful World, Where Are You. Picture: Dan Linehan

Head of Marketing at Eason’s, Brendan Corbett said on Thursday that all sales indications are showing that the Rooney novel is "the fastest selling book of the year so far for us”.

Figures on Thursday provided by Nielsen Book show that Rooney’s other two novels, Normal People and Conversations with Friends have generated revenues of €10.9 million in the UK and Ireland after selling over one million copies.

Rooney will receive a fraction of the millions generated by her book sales as the lion’s share is shared between retailer and publisher.

Typically authors would receive around 10% of the net price paid by retailers to publishers as a royalty so on a paperback version of a book priced at €8.99, an author would expect to receive around 45c per copy.