Book sales - Still holding their own

Book sales traditionally peak in the days before Christmas, no doubt because many people find books a handy present to give to anyone.

Sales figures show that despite growing competition from other media, books are still holding their own.

The top selling book was Jamie Oliver’s cookbook, Jamie’s 30-minute Meals. Hopefully this will reflect a healthy interest in cooking among the population. The inclusion of Soundings: Poems We Did for Our Leaving Certificate, which was first published in 1969, would seem to indicate a distinct educational interest.

The top 10 bestsellers sold an average of over 6,000 copies each in this country in the week before Christmas. Seven of those top 10 had Irish authors, and this actually extended to 15 of the top 20 titles. Those figures are remarkable when one considers that between 75% and 85% of the books sold in Ireland are published abroad.

It is great to see that people still consider reading so important and enjoyable. Every effort should be made to encourage children to read more, especially when they are now being bombarded with so many technological diversions in the form of television, computer games, DVDs, and the various diversions on the internet.