White's last bestseller appeared 25 years ago at the end of an amazing final run that began with the Nobel Prize in 1973, included the mighty Twyborn Affair and climaxed in 1981 with the book that sold more than any other in his career, Flaws in the Glass. Even before his death a decade later, his reputation had begun its long, slow - but not uninterrupted - slide. These days, students and customers shy away from his novels. Alphabetical order doesn't help. He's found in bookshops on the bottom shelves. We buy him on our hands and knees.One hundred and ninety nine - The Man Who Loved Children, The Little Hotel, Miss Herbert (The Suburban Wife), Letty Fox: Her Luck ...
... somewhere along the track, for reasons that go deeper than publishers' neglect, we stopped buying the distinguished writers of our own recent past. White was one of three Australians of his generation with big literary reputations at home and abroad. None sells strongly now. Nielsen BookScan, that pitiless surveyor of the trade, tells me that last year White's 13 titles in print sold only 2728 copies. Shirley Hazzard did better: her eight sold 4270 copies. Christina Stead's seven sold 199. That's not a misprint.
Meanwhile the Guardian offers UK figures from Nielsen BookScan on sales over the past decade. The 'top 100' include -
1 JK Rowling 29,084,999 (£225.9m)I'm reminded of benchmarks such as the Australian PLR data (selection here), with the 'top 50' Australian books (by times borrowed from a public library) over the period 1974/5 to 2005/6 including -
2 Roger Hargreaves 14,163,141 (£26.6m)
3 Dan Brown 13,372,007 (£74.1m)
5 Terry Pratchett 10,455,397 (£77.2m)
6 John Grisham 9,862,998 (£65.9m)
7 Richard Parsons 9,561,776 (£49.2m)
8 Danielle Steel 9,119,149 (£51m)
9 James Patterson 8,172,647 (£53.8m)
10 Enid Blyton 7,910,758 (£31.2m)
11 Bill Bryson 7,409,656 (£61.2m)
12 Patricia Cornwell 7,355,180 (£49.8m)
13 Jamie Oliver 7,244,620 (£89.5m)
15 Ian Rankin 6,848,039 (£44.3m)
17 Alexander McCall Smith 6,609,779 (£40.6m)
20 Roald Dahl 6,169,406 (£33.8m)
22 Philip Pullman 5,544,376 (£35.8m)
23 Stephenie 'Twilight' Meyer 5,487,313 (£32m)
24 Maeve Binchy 5,476,134 (£37.6m)
25 J R R Tolkien 5,280,406 (£50.6m)
26 Delia Smith 5,269,783 (£58.7m)
27 Stephen King 5,268,577 (£38m)
29 Jeremy Clarkson 4,913,989 (£35.1m)
35 Lemony Snicket 4,220,508 (£23.9m)
36 Andy McNab 4,123,633 (£30.4m)
37 Ian McEwan 4,040,887 (£27.7m)
38 Wilbur Smith 3,871,484 (£30.1m)
39 Michael Connelly 3,785,330 (£23.5m)
40 Sebastian Faulks 3,782,665 (£27.5m)
45 William Shakespeare 3,333,670 (£17.8m)
49 Dave Pelzer 3,217,905 (£20.2m)
50 R L Stine 3,096,584 (£13.1m)
51 Catherine Cookson 3,020,751 (£16.8m)
52 Dean Koontz 3,010,242 (£17.5m)
53 W Awdry 2,991,572 (£9.9m)
55 Jeffery Deaver 2,972,145 (£16.9m)
57 Nick Hornby 2,956,544 (£19.6m)
58 Ben Elton 2,907,294 (£20m)
63 Dr Seuss 2,760,156 (£14.8m)
70 Nigella Lawson 2,616,955 (£39.2m)
71 Robert C Atkins 2,591,073 (£17.3m)
74 Clive Cussler 2,435,718 (£16.5m)
77 Penny Vincenzi 2,358,041 (£14.6m)
78 Charles Dickens 2,341,980 (£9.3m)
82 Jackie Collins 2,295,308 (£14.4m)
84 A A Milne 2,255,346 (£14.5m)
85 Paulo Coelho 2,229,564 (£16.3m)
86 Eric Carle 2,225,336 (£12.1m)
87 Louis de Bernières 2,221,481 (£15.3m)
96 Gordon Ramsay 2,094,376 (£23.4m)
98 Frank McCourt 2,055,939 (£14.9m)
100 Lyn Andrews 2,027,382 (£9.2m)
1 Bryce Courtenay Tommo & HawkJennings reappeared on the list at rank 14, 16, 20, 21, 29, 35, 45 and 46. Courtenay was back at 22, 23, 27, 28 and 30. McCullough reappeared at 36 and 37. Four authors account for 30 of the 50 most-borrowed titles.
2 Bryce Courtenay The Potato Factory
3 Paul Jennings Unbelievable! More Surprising Stories
4 Colleen McCullough The Thorn Birds
5 Paul Jennings Quirky Tails:More Oddball Stories
6 Paul Jennings Uncanny! Even More Surprising Stories
7 Colleen McCullough An Indecent Obsession
8 Bryce Courtenay Jessica
9 Bryce Courtenay Solomon’s Song
10 Paul Jennings Unmentionable! More Amazing Stories
