The BookNet staff recaps 2021 in terms of book sales in the Canadian market, BookNet staff reading habits, and all the other book news fit to share.

3. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

4. PRINT BOOK SALES IN 2021
• Sales are a little more pre-pandemic-like this
year.
• 2020 we saw the biggest dip in sales from
March through May.
• 2021 sales in Q2 are about on par with the
average sales for the last five years before the
pandemic began.

5. PRINT BOOK SALES IN 2021
• In 2020, the holiday shopping bump started
around the second week of November.
• In 2021 so far, the holiday shopping bump
seems to have begun in the first week of
November.
• Part of that might be the timing of Hanukkah.
This year Hanukkah took place from
November 28 to December 6. Last year, it was
a little later December 10 to 18.

6. PRINT BOOK SALES IN 2021
• So, sales in 2021 are up about 7% over 2020
and up 5% over 2019's numbers.
• Traditionally, the last few weeks of December
are the best-selling weeks of the year.

7. PRINT BOOK SALES IN 2021
• Subject categories on the move:
– Juvenile Non-Fiction sales are down about 6%
over last year.
– Young Adult Non-Fiction (a small category overall)
is up this year 21%.
– Manga sales are up 104% over last year.
– Romance / LGBTQ subcategory is up 241% over
last year!

8. PRINT BOOK SALES IN 2021
• Backlist’s back!
– Backlist sales have been up about 2.5% each year
for the last two years.
– Books between two and five years old, tend to
perform the best in sales.
– And of that group, two-year-old titles do the most
sales.
– A number of older titles have been able to find
audiences on TikTok.

9. CONSUMER RESEARCH
Canadian Book Consumer Survey:
• Quarterly survey conducted by BookNet
Canada querying Canadians about their book
behaviour.
• The online survey fielded primarily in April,
June, and September 2021 to just under 4,936
English-speaking Canadians.

10. CONSUMER RESEARCH
Bookstore visits, 2021 by quarter

11. CONSUMER RESEARCH
Book purchases online vs. in person

12. CONSUMER RESEARCH
COVID-19 impact on book buying

13. CONSUMER RESEARCH
Reading behaviour of Canadians in 2021

20. STAFF PICKS
“My interest in poetry on
Instagram is well-documented,
and I loved … the project of I
Hope This Finds You Well, where
the author created erasure
poems from the harassing,
unfriendly direct messages in
her inbox.” - Monique Mongeon

21. STAFF PICKS
“Profound, moving, and a
must read.”
— Jackie Fry

22. STAFF PICKS
Sylvia Olsen, “touches on
questions of appropriation and
respect and, as she travels across
the country, on the things that
knit us together as Canadians.”
— Carol Gordon

23. STAFF PICKS
“Literally the only book I’ve
finished and then started re-
reading from the beginning.
— Shim Hirchberg Pleskin

24. STAFF PICKS
“His writing is direct and
passionate, with a quick and easy
sense of humour. Rez Rules is not
a memoir, but a blueprint for the
future of First Nations
communities and a direct and
passionate treatise on
leadership.”
— Hannah Johnston

25. STAFF PICKS
“The illustrations by Philip Girard
look beautiful and I’m a sucker
for a little Leonard Cohen magic.
Waiting with anticipation!”
— Noah Genner

26. BESTSELLING FICTION 2021
1. The Rose
Code
by Kate Quinn
2. The Midnight
Library
by Matt Haig
3. The Last
Thing He Told
Me
by Laura Dave
4. State of
Terror
by Hillary
Rodham
Clinton and
Louise Penny
5. Where the Crawdads Sing
by Delia Owens
6. The
Push by
Ashley
Audrain
7. It Ends with
Us
by Colleen
Hoover
8. Five Little
Indians by
Michelle Good
10. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
9. The Song of
Achilles
by Madeline
Miller

27. BESTSELLING FICTION 2021

28. BESTSELLING FICTION 2021

29. BESTSELLING CANADIAN FICTION 2021
1. State of
Terror by
Hillary Rodham
Clinton and
Louise Penny
2. The Push by
Ashley Audrain
3. Five Little
Indians by
Michelle Good
4. The
Madness of
Crowds by
Louise Penny
5. The Apollo Murders
by Chris Hadfield
6. Not a Happy
Family by Shari
Lapena
7. Fight Night
by Miriam
Toews
8. The Marrow
Thieves by
Cherie
Dimaline
10. Our Darkest Night
by Jennifer Robson
9. The
Strangers by
Katherena
Vermette

30. BESTSELLING CANADIAN FICTION 2021
1. State of
Terror by
Hillary Rodham
Clinton and
Louise Penny
2. The Push by
Ashley Audrain
3. Five Little
Indians by
Michelle Good
4. The
Madness of
Crowds by
Louise Penny
5. The Apollo Murders
by Chris Hadfield
6. Not a Happy
Family by Shari
Lapena
7. Fight Night
by Miriam
Toews
8. The Marrow
Thieves by
Cherie
Dimaline
9. The
Strangers by
Katherena
Vermette

31. BESTSELLING NON-FICTION 2021
1. Atomic
Habits by
James Clear
2. Braiding
Sweetgrass by
Robin Wall
Kimmerer
3. Guinness
World Records
2022
4. The Boy, the
Mole, the Fox
and the Horse
by Charlie
Mackesy
5. The Body Keeps the Score
by Bessel van der Kolk
6. Beyond
Order
by Jordan B.
Peterson
7. Untamed
by Glennon
Doyle
8. Keep Sharp
by Sanjay
Gupta
10. Indian in the Cabinet
by Jody Wilson-Raybould
9. A Promised
Land
by Barack
Obama

32. BESTSELLING NON-FICTION 2021
1. Atomic
Habits by
James Clear
2. Braiding
Sweetgrass by
Robin Wall
Kimmerer
3. Guinness
World Records
2022
4. The Boy, the
Mole, the Fox
and the Horse
by Charlie
Mackesy
5. The Body Keeps the Score
by Bessel van der Kolk
6. Beyond
Order
by Jordan B.
Peterson
7. Untamed
by Glennon
Doyle
8. Keep Sharp
by Sanjay
Gupta
9. A Promised
Land
by Barack
Obama

33. BESTSELLING CANADIAN NON-FICTION 2021
1. Beyond
Order
by Jordan B.
Peterson
2. Indian in the
Cabinet
by Jody
Wilson-
Raybould
3. The Bomber
Mafia
by Malcolm
Gladwell
4. Home Body
by Rupi Kaur
5. Crossroads
by Kaleb Dahlgren
6. 21 Things
You May Not
Know about
the Indian Act
by Bob
Joseph
7. Talking to
Canadians
by Rick Mercer
10. No One Wins Alone
by Mark Messier
9. From the
Ashes
by Jesse Thistle
8. Mandy's
Gourmet
Salads
by Mandy
Wolfe, Rebecca
Wolfe, and
Meredith
Erickson

34. BESTSELLING JUVENILE/YA 2021
1. Dog Man
Mothering
Heights
by Dav Pilkey
2. They Both
Die at the End
by Adam Silvera
3. Awesome
Friendly
Spooky Stories
by Jeff Kinney
4. Big Shot
by Jeff Kinney
5. Cat Kid Comic Club
by Dav Pilkey
6. Claudia and
the New Girl by
Ann M. Martin
and Gabriela
Epstein
7. I Love You
to the Moon
and Back
by Amelia
Hepworth and
Tim Warnes
8. We Were
Liars by E.
Lockhart
10. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
by Eric Carle
9. Shadow and
Bone
by Leigh
Bardugo

35. BESTSELLING JUVENILE/YA 2021
1. Dog Man
Mothering
Heights
by Dav Pilkey
2. They Both
Die at the End
by Adam Silvera
3. Awesome
Friendly
Spooky Stories
by Jeff Kinney
4. ig Shot
by Jeff Kinney
6. Claudia and
the New Girl by
Ann M. Martin
and Gabriela
Epstein
7. I Love You
to the Moon
and Back
by Amelia
Hepworth and
Tim Warnes
8. We Were
Liars by E.
Lockhart
9. Shadow and
Bone
by Leigh
Bardugo

36. BESTSELLING CANADIAN JUVENILE/YA 2021
1. Love You
Forever by
Robert Munsch
and Sheila
McGraw
2. Love You
Forever by
Robert Munsch
and Sheila
McGraw
3. The Paper
Bag Princess by
Robert Munsch
and Michael
Martchenko
4. Be You!
by Peter H.
Reynolds
5. Pax by Sara Pennypacker
and Jon Klassen
6. My Heart
Fills with
Happiness by
Monique Gray
Smith and Julie
Flett
7. Sweetest
Kulu by Celina
Kalluk and
Alexandria
Neonakis
8. School
Rules! by
Robert Munsch
and Dave
Whamond
10. Smelly Socks by Robert Munsch
and Michael Martchenko
9. Mortimer by
Robert Munsch
and Michael
Martchenko

37. TOP CIRCULATED FICTION 2021
1. The Four
Winds
by Kristin
Hannah
2. The Midnight
Library
by Matt Haig
3. The
Vanishing Half
by Brit Bennett
4. The Push
by Ashley
Audrain
5. Where the Crawdads Sing
by Delia Owens
6. The Law of
Innocence
by Michael
Connelly
7. A Time for
Mercy
by John
Grisham
8. All the Devils
Are Here
by Louise
Penny
9. Anxious
People
by Fredrik
Backman
10. The Guest List
by Lucy Foley

38. TOP CIRCULATED CANADIAN FICTION 2021
1. The Push
by Ashley
Audrain
2. All the Devils
Are Here
by Louise Penny
3. The Pull of
the Stars
by Emma
Donoghue
4. The
Madness of
Crowds
by Louise
Penny
5. How to Pronounce Knife
by Souvankham Thammavongsa
6. Five Little
Indians
by Michelle
Good
7. The Glass
Hotel
by Emily St.
John Mandel
8. Indians on
Vacation
by Thomas
King
9. A Town
Called Solace
by Mary
Lawson
10. Our Darkest Night
by Jennifer Robson

39. TOP CIRCULATED NON-FICTION 2021
1. A Promised
Land by Barack
Obama
2. Untamed by
Glennon Doyle
3. From the
Ashes by Jesse
Thistle
4. Guinness
World Records
2022
5. Caste
by Isabel Wilkerson
6. Educated
by Tara
Westover
7. Greenlights
by Matthew
McConaughey
8. Talking to
Strangers by
Malcolm
Gladwell
9. If I Knew
Then by Jann
Arden
10. Atomic Habits
by James Clear

40. TOP CIRCULATED CANADIAN NON-FICTION 2021
1. From the
Ashes by Jesse
Thistle
2. Guinness
World Records
3. Talking to
Strangers by
Malcolm
Gladwell
4. If I Knew
Then by Jann
Arden
5. The Bomber Mafia by
Malcolm Gladwell
6. Two Trees
Make a Forest
by Jessica J.
Lee
7. Oh She
Glows for
Dinner by
Angela Liddon
8. No Time Like
the Future by
Michael J. Fox
9. 12 Rules for
Life by Jordan
B. Peterson
10. Values
by Mark Carney

41. TOP CIRCULATED JUVENILE/YA 2021
1. Diary of a
Wimpy Kid
series by Jeff
Kinney
2. The Baby-
Sitters Club
series by Ann
M. Martin
3. Bad Guys
series by Aaron
Blabey
4. Harry Potter
series by J. K.
Rowling
5. Captain Underpants series
by Dav Pilkey
6. Raina
Telgemeier
collection
7. Plants vs.
Zombies series
8. Amulet
series by
Kazu
Kibuishi
9. Wings of Fire
series by Tui T.
Sutherland
10. Dork Diaries series
by Rachel Renee Russell

42. TOP CIRCULATED CANADIAN JUVENILE/YA 2021
1. Robert
Munsch
collection
2. Guinness
World Records
collection
3. Jon le Bon
series by Alex
A.
4. Whatever
After series
by Sarah
Mlynowski
5. Anne of Green Gables series
by L.M. Montgomery
6. Duck, Duck,
Dinosaur
series by
Kallie George
and Oriol
Vidal
7. The
Nameless City
series by Faith
Erin Hicks
8. The
Enormous
Suitcase by
Robert
Munsch and
Michael
Martchenko
9. Teamwork
by Robert
Munsch and
Michael
Martchenko
10. Inkling by Kenneth Oppel
and Sydney Smith