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Through Black Spruce Goes Through the Roof After Giller Win

Joseph Boyden’s Second (and First) Novels See Immediate Sales Impact of Win

TORONTO – November 25, 2008 In the week ending November 16, 2008, the first since Penguin Canada’s Through Black Spruce was named the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner, Canadian sales for the title spiked by more than 560%.

Joseph Boyden’s first novel, Three Day Road, also saw a significant increase in sales. The trade paper edition of the title sold 160% more units in the week after the win than it did in the week before.

In past years, the Giller Effect on sales has been apparent right away and Giller winners from 2007 and 2006 remained strong sellers throughout the holiday season. Last year’s winner, McClelland and Stewart’s Late Nights on Air, saw a sales increase of 628% in the week after the win and in 2007, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, published by Doubleday Canada, had a sales bump of 464% in the same timeframe.

The Scotiabank Giller Prize awards $50,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English and $5,000 to each of the finalists.

For more Scotiabank Giller Prize analysis and more information on BookNet Canada and BNC SalesData and, visit BookNet Canada’s website at www.booknetcanada.ca

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About BookNet Canada

BookNet Canada is the not-for-profit agency created by the Canadian book industry and the Department of Canadian Heritage to facilitate improvements in the book industry supply chain. It provides services and develops standards and certification in areas including electronic commerce via EDI (Electronic Document Interchange), bibliographic data, and analysis of point-of-sales and other supply chain data. BookNet acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for its initiatives.