Political book sales remain flat despite general election

Only the project period of 2015 saw a surge in hunger for political books, with Nielsen’s Politics and Government information climbing 73% on the previous year led by 2 runaway bestsellers: Owen Jones’ The Facility (Penguin) and a ₤ 3 Penguin Little Black Classics version of The Communist Policy. That left-leaning tilt at the tills did not reflect what occurred in the ballot booths, as the Tories protected a 2nd premiership for David Cameron in 2015.

Throughout the 2019 general political election, sales of publications regarding politics and government were ₤ 3.9 m, 9.3% down on the very same duration the previous year. The group reduced year-on-year during the basic political elections of 2017 (-3.1%), 2010 (-6.1%) and 2005 (-1.2%).

Sales of political publications commonly go down in the run-up to a basic election. While this election cycle has not led to a rise in people getting political titles, it is bucking a downward fad.

The book of former Traditional MP and candidate for party leader Rory Stewart’s Politics on the Edge (Vintage) memoir changed 49,011 copies– Stewart’s title remains in Autobiography: Historic, Political and Army, however. On the other hand, the paperback of James O’Brien’s Exactly how They Broke Britain (W H Allen), which analyzes exactly how political leaders Nigel Farage, David Cameron, Jeremy Corbyn, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, along with media bosses and financiers, “broke Britain”, marketed 25,998 copies.