3 September 2024

In past posts, I’ve covered bestsellers across countries, showing which books achieve international success alongside locally driven favourites. A lot of international bestsellers originate in English and then travel on through many languages, but switching that perspective and focusing on books translated into English gives us further insight into the themes and ideas that transcend languages and borders.

In 2023, consumers spent £26m on translated fiction print books in the UK, up 12% on the previous year. Bestsellers in 2024 so far are indicating another year of growth: as of the end of August, eleven translated fiction titles have sold over 20k copies in print, up from five a year ago. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi topped the chart in 2023, and while the novel is tracking ahead of its sales from this point last year, it’s been bumped to third for 2024, behind fellow Japanese import Butter by Asako Yuzuki and Norwegian thriller Killing Moon by Jo Nesbo (both of which feature serial killers, albeit from very different angles).

Given that it revolves around a serial killer, Butter is a bit of an anomaly compared to other recent bestselling novels translated from Japanese, which have been driven by cosy locales like cafes and bookshops, sometimes with magical realism thrown in, and often featuring cats. But among the top titles this year, shown below, Butter is not alone in exploring feminist themes, with Jacqueline Harpman’s I Who Have Never Known Men experiencing increased popularity. The latest edition was published in 2019, and sales in the first eight months of 2024 have surpassed 2019 to 2023 combined.

We can go from French post-apocalyptic science fiction to Chinese apocalyptic science fiction, with the Netflix adaptation boosting sales of The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu to their highest year yet, nearly double full-year 2023. The sci-fi novel is the oldest edition among the bestsellers (based on these specific English-language ISBNs), published in 2015, but for the newer books, three fit into the ‘cosy’ category: the paperbacks of Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa, What You Are Looking For is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama and DallerGut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee. While no stranger to magical realism herself, Isabel Allende’s The Wind Knows My Name can probably be more aligned with International Booker Winner Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, as both deal with historical themes and relationships in times of strife.

That leaves one bestseller that I haven’t mentioned, the actual oldest story in the mix, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s White Nights. The short story may not immediately seem to fit in with the wider themes, but (based on the Wikipedia entry, as admittedly I have not read it) it does look to have parallels with many of these Japanese and Korean titles, with characters searching for connections and answers.

I could end with a note about the wonder of literature, that we see stories from almost 200 years apart and different cultures and languages exploring parallel themes about human connection (cue inspirational music), but I’m sure you’re here for the lovely data, so let’s have a look at who is buying the current top translated fiction author, Toshikazu Kawaguchi. According to results from our Books & Consumers survey, the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series has found an audience in younger consumers, with two-thirds bought by under 35s (led by 20-24s, who have accounted for more than a quarter of purchases). Female consumers have bought 80% of the series (compared to their already strong 65% of total fiction), and Londoners take a quarter of purchases (double their fiction share).

Only a small portion of purchases have been bought in digital formats, and discovery has been led by physical shops, only just ahead of recommendations from friends & family. The in-person factors are strong, but video-sharing sites have also led to more than 10% of purchases, significantly ahead of the fiction stat, so the series is benefitting from conversations and sharing on TikTok, pointing back to the younger readership. When deciding to buy, the blurb and subject have the most influence, but recommendations/reviews show the biggest jump from overall fiction, further cementing the word-of-mouth aspect of the book’s popularity. We also see a reflection of the print share and physical shop discovery, with looking inside the book and the front cover having an impact.

And finally, we can look at the other genres read by buyers. General literary fiction goes right to the top, ahead of usual frontrunner crime & thriller, with buyers of Kawaguchi’s books also more likely to be reading popular fiction, romance, SFF, YA fiction and short stories – and as we’re talking about popular literary fiction books with magical realism and separate stories per customer, that’s checking a lot of those boxes!

Based on data from the Nielsen BookScan Total Consumer Market (TCM) to 31 August 2024 and the Books & Consumers survey to May 2024. Standard consumer profile reports are available by author and genre. Please contact infobookresearch@nielseniq.com for more information.