Stocking all over the world

South Africa

Eve Gray

While many booksellers are publicly buoyant about the Christmas season, there is a distinct undercurrent of anxiety in South Africa. The Rand has been in free fall, losing more than 30% against the US dollar this year, despite the strength of the SA economy.

But prices of Christmas books have not been affected and, after a slow start, sales have taken off. Jill van Zyl, Exclusive Books book development manager, said: "A month ago we thought there was not going to be a Christmas, but now the shops are busy and November figures are encouraging." The sentiment was echoed by Andrew Marjoribanks, managing director of independent chain Wordsworth, where sales are up on last season.

Trends differ between the chains and independents. Exclusive Books is doing good business in Harry Potter titles after the release of the film. The Lord of the Rings is also selling exceptionally well ahead of the film's release.* A more surprising frontrunner for Christmas trade is Jack, the autobiography of Jack Welch, c.e.o. of General Electric.

But smaller independent booksellers take a less rosy view—for Christmas and beyond. "Life is difficult for the independent bookseller and everyone is struggling," said the owner of a small bookshop. The difficulties were also said to extend to less affluent branches of the bigger chains, while buoyant sales were being experienced only in shops in very affluent or tourist areas.

The market will face its real challenge in the new year. Multinational trade publishers continue to hold prices of lead titles, but other titles will see dramatic price increases. "The real worry is the 'two countries' aspect of sales here, with SA heading for an even more polarised market," a source said.



Australia/New Zealand

Anna Rogers

After a difficult second half in 2000, when a goods and services tax was introduced and the Olympics took place in Sydney, the Australian book trade is cautiously optimistic for Christmas.

Retailing was very quiet after 11th September, and there was the distraction of a federal election, but the mood has become relatively upbeat, with booksellers and publishers feeling more confident. Titles selling more than 100,000 copies include Pamela Stephenson's Billy, cookery title Off the Shelf by Donna Hay, Four Fires by Bryce Courtenay and True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey, the Australian winner of the Booker Prize.

Both leading New Zealand book chains, Whitcoulls and Paper Plus, report that pre-Christmas sales are encouraging. Post-11th September blues appear to have evaporated. It has even been suggested that New Zealanders spending their summer holidays at home could mean good book sales.

Biographies of local sports heroes are extremely popular, as are food and wine books, including Jamie Oliver's Happy Days with the Naked Chef. In fiction, Diana Gabaldon's The Fiery Cross is a clear frontrunner, and in non-fiction Billy has seen strong sales. An unexpected success for one independent is Peter Ackroyd's London in paperback.



Canada

Monica Dobie

Canada's booksellers are expecting profitable sales for Christmas, banking on the general public's desire for reflection and quiet family time.

Richard King, of Montreal-based Paragraph Bookstore, said: "Christmas will be very good. People are cocooning and books are wonderful to cocoon with." Mr King claimed that events on 11th September had not depressed sales, but instead had boosted the market. "We're doing well for the wrong reasons, but it's happening. No one in the industry was predicting growth, but we have a product that does well during a tragedy."

Chapters/Indigo, Canada's largest bookseller, which has a market share of more than 30%, also expected a booming Christmas. But it claimed that September 11th had a negative impact on sales. "11th September caused a ripple, but we believe that Christmas sales will be strong," a spokeswoman said.

Indigo reported a quarterly net loss of C$31.3m (£13.8m) compared to C$7.8m (£3.4m) last year. A large chunk of its costs was put down to the recent merger with Chapters. Neither bookseller would reveal Christmas sales expectations, but books on terrorism, Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden, as well as spirituality, were expected to be big.

Christmas picks included Canada: A People's History—Volume 2 by Don Gillmor, this year's Giller Prize winner, Clara Callan by Richard B Wright, The Naked Chef Takes Off by Jamie Oliver, How To Be a Canadian: Even If You Already Are One by Will and Ian Ferguson, and Skipping Christmas by John Grisham.



India

Gaye Facer

Indian booksellers and publishers were hit hard this year by a recession, which affected middle-class book buyers, and by a dramatic drop in tourist numbers. Retail sales decreases of 20% to 30% in fiction and non-fiction were widely reported. Travel and illustrated books on design, decoration, textiles and interiors fell as much as 40%. After an initial rush for books on Afghanistan and Nostradamus, north India has felt the worst impact.

The small bookselling chain Crossword reported a slowdown, and Full Circle, a Delhi-based specialist in spiritual titles, has seen a sharp dip compared to last Christmas. Most booksellers agree with A K Singh of the Bookshop in New Delhi, who notes that V S Naipaul's Half a Life is one of the few titles to meet sales predictions.

The trade was recently disappointed by the cancellation of India's first international literary festival, At Home in the World, planned for December but postponed until February 2002.



* Most correspondents reported that the films "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" and "The Lord of the Rings" had given a strong uplift to sales of J K Rowling and J R R Tolkien.