A combination of Ghost Light sales slowing and Stieg Larsson hold steady means that Jospeh O’Connor‘s run at the top end of the charts is heading for an end.
I’ll be interested to see how long he now stays in the top ten and whether nominations for any of the upcoming prizes re-energize his sales. Colum McCann‘s paperback edition of Let The Great World Spin is selling nicely and, alongside Maeve Binchy, he rounds out the Irish contingent in the top ten.

1: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson, 1,710
2: The Help, Kathryn Stockett, 1,682
3: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest, Stieg Larsson, 1,541
4: Picture Perfect, Jodi Picoult, 1,467
5: Ghost Light, Joseph O’Connor, 1,449
6: The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson, 1,399
7: Broken, Karin Slaughter, 1,280
8: The Return Journey, Maeve Binchy, 1,249
9: Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann, 1,241
10: Stolen, Lesley Pearse, 1,124

Data Supplied by Nielsen BookScan taken from the Irish Consumer Market week ending 10th July 2010

The most notable feature of the top ten this week is its remarkable stability.

The same few titles seem to be rotate around the top slots and have done for the last few weeks. Binchy, O’Connor, Stockett, Picoult are all solid names on the list, so too the seemingly unceasingly popular Larsson.

The arrival in the top ten this week of Amanda Brunker and the return of McCann brings the Irish author contingent to 40% which is no mean feat.

1: The Help, Kathryn Stockett, 1,934
2: Ghost Light, Joseph O’Connor, 1,720
3: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson, 1,683
4: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest Stieg Larsson, 1,599
5: Picture Perfect, Jodi Picoult, 1,527
6: The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson, 1,421
7: Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella, Meyer, Stephenie, 1,283
8: The Return Journey, Binchy, Maeve, 1,265
9: Champagne Secrets, Amanda Brunker, 1,195
10: Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann, 1,050

Data Supplied by Nielsen BookScan taken from the Irish Consumer Market week ending 17th July 2010

John Banville has won the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award 2010 at the opening of 2010′s Listowel Writers’ Week. He was award a cheque of €15,000 at a ceremoney in the town last night.

Banville’s book, Infinities, was chosen from a shortlist that included Colum McCann’s Let The Great World Spin and Ed O’Loughlin’s Not Untrue & Not Unkind.

The judges for the competition were Giles Foden and Kate O’Toole.

John Banville, Nick Laird, Colum McCann, John McKenna and Ed O’Loughlin have been shortlisted for the 2010 Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award.

Actress Kate O’Toole and author Giles Foden are the adjudicators. The winner will be announced on 2nd June at official opening of the Listowel Writers Week Festival.

The Shortlist
The Infinities by John Banville
Glover’s Mistake by Nick Laird
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
The Space Between Us by John McKenna
Not True & Not Unkind by Ed O’Loughlin

The O’Brien Press and Northern Ireland based Guildhall Press have both launched simultaneous paperback and Kindle versions of new titles.

Pricing
O’Brien Press made Niall O’Dowd‘s American Voice available on the Kindle priced at $19.58 including VAT and international delivery via Amazon’s Whispernet service. Guildhall released Garbhan Downey‘s The American Envoy on the Kindle at $10.52.

According to O’Brien the list price for the Kindle edition is $17.99 or €13.12, cheaper than the list price for print of €14.99, and that is what readers in the United States pay for their books.

Irish customers however are required to pay both VAT and international delivery fees, pushing the price to $21.58 or €14.25 which is a considerable premium to the print price currently available on the O’Brien website, €11.99 (including a Paddy’s Day 20% discount), though delivery costs for the print book drive the inclusive price to €14.69.

Guildhall’s list price for the print version of The American Envoy is £6.95 or €7.67 and the price including delivery in Ireland is £9.75 or €10.76. The Kindle price is $10.52 or €7.65 making their Kindle version considerably cheaper than the delivered paper book.

Independent Authors
Although several independent authors have made editions of their books available via Kindle devices, O’Brien and Guildhall are believed to be the first to make newly released titles available simultaneously with the release of the paperback.

In January, Irish Publishing News featured a guest column by Sheila O’Kelly who was both a proud Kindle Owner and a kindle published author via Smashwords

LITERARY DEATH MATCH TRIUMPH!!!
Dublin’s first Literary Death Match reviewed, by the winner!
Read more…

A stranger in both cultures
Another review for Niall O’Dowd’s memoir
Read more…

We live in the 19th century as well as the 21st
Fintan weighs in on the Julian Gough thing!
Read more…

Is closing a bookshop akin to knocking down a unicorn?
Shane Hegarty talks bookshops!
Read more…
Turning libel into crucifixion

Excellent review for Pat Walsh’s Patrick Kavanagh & The Leader
Read more…

Cover design
Share your thoughts on the cover design for The White Gallows over at the author, Rob Kitchin’s, blog.
Read more…

Books that stay with you…
Great post from Claire Hennesy
Read more…

The power of the Stieg Larsson brand is really quite phenomenal. Again his book dominate the top ten, but woth some interesting new arrivals, most notably Mick McCaffrey’s Cocaine Wars. Real life and fictional thrillers being equally popular in Ireland.

1: The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
2: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
3: Cocaine Wars:’Fat’ Freddie Thompson and the Crumlin/Drimnagh Feud, Mick McCaffery
4: The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson
5: Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation, John Carlin
6: Mathematical Tables
7: The Missing, Jane Casey
8: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest, Stieg Larsson
9: Stolen, Lesley Pearse
10: Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann

Source, Nielsen Bookscan ICM Figures

No doubt fuelled by the heavy promotion of the film, Invictus makes an appearance in the top ten, which is overall dominated by the talented but departed Mr Larsson. Colum McCann is still selling well as is Sebold and the seemingly unstoppable rise of the Mathematical Tables continues!

1: Mathematical Tables
2: The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
3: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
4: Stolen, Lesley Pearse
5: The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson
6: Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann
7: Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation, John Carlin
8: Don't Tell, Karen Rose
9: Living with Evil, Cynthia Owen
10: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, Stieg Larsson

Source: Nielsen Bookscan

We have the somewhat odd situation at the end of February where Alice Sebold occupies two slots with one book (in different editions), a product of the motion picture hype and the impressive performance of Irish actress Saoirse Ronan. Colum McCann makes a return after a somewhat strange disappearance driven I suspect by poor restocking or perhaps a rushed reprint. Larsson remains strong and two weeks in a row without Meyer. If Meyer’s fading sales are consistent worldwide, Hachette may need to find something soon for 2010 if their figures have any hope of matching the results from 2010.

1: The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
2: State Mathematical Tables
3: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
4: Living with Evil, Cynthia Owen
5: The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson
6: Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann
7: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest, Stieg Larsson
8: The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
9: Stolen, Lesley Pearse
10: The Lovers, John Connolly

Source: Nielsen Bookscan, ICM

Living With Evil, Cynthia Owen

Again a strong week for Stieg larsson but Colum McCann, Alice Sebold and newcomers to the top ten in 2010, Cynthia Owen, Fiona O’Brien and Harlan Coben doing well too.

1: Living with Evil, Cynthia Owen
2: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Steig Larsson
3: The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson
4: The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold, Alice
5: Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann
6: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest, Stieg Larsson
7: No Reservations, Fiona O’Brien
8: Eclipse, Stephanie Meyer
9: The Road, Cormac McCarthy
10: Long Lost, Harlan Coben