Sales boost for The Finkler Question

Howard Jacobson winner

Man Booker Prize winner enjoys huge increase in sales

21 October 2010

The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson (Bloomsbury), winner of this year's Man Booker Prize for Fiction, has received the biggest ever sales boost from the prize since records began, The Bookseller reported this week.

"Sales of The Finkler Question (Bloomsbury) jumped 1,920% week-on-week across all print formats, trumping previous record holder Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger which enjoyed a 1,650% fillip upon winning the prize in 2008. The Finkler Question's 12,649 copy sale last week was the second largest from a Man Booker winner in a week, 5,000 down on 2009 winner Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall (Fourth Estate) in the equivalent week."

Bloomsbury confirmed that Bookscan is showing sales of 11,704 copies which would take The Finkler Question straight into the Hardback bestseller chart at No. 2 this week.

On 14th October, known as ‘Super Thursday' - the biggest day in the 2010 publishing calendar, overall book sales were down but The Finkler Question was still up by an enormous 2,300% for that week for hardback sales.

Random House has also revealed plans to publish Howard Jacobson's 2006 title Kalooki Nights as a Vintage Classic, aiming for publication in January 2011. Kalooki Night was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2006. Publication of this Vintage Classics edition of Kalooki Nights will coincide with The Mighty Walzer featuring on BBC Radio 4, Bookclub.

Bloomsbury now has 200,000 copies of The Finkler Question in print across all English language markets. Speaking to The Bookseller, Publicity Director Katie Bond said: "Jacobson is attracting enormous media interest everywhere-his profile in the New York Times was a huge accolade. It seems to me that the Booker is getting bigger every year."

The Man Booker Prize Fiction at its finest