February is Black History Month so we wanted to take a look at some books featuring the BISAC code: African American & Black that were published from 2019 to 2023. We’re splitting the titles into Fiction (Fiction / African American & Black) and Non-Fiction (Non-Fiction / History / African American & Black) to look at not only the sales of books about Black history but also the sales of books with Black representation.
Using SalesData, BookNet’s national sales tracking service for the Canadian English-language trade book market, we took a deeper look into the sales of Black titles in the last five years.
Buying Black titles
Non-Fiction
From 2019 to 2023, sales for Non-Fiction / History / African American & Black titles increased by 300%. Looking at the graph below, sales shot up from 2019 to 2020 by 993%. This isn’t shocking given the political climate at the time and the strong push for Black voices to be heard. However, since then sales have decreased steadily which could be attributed to the culture of short lived trends and the possible performative nature of the Black support we saw in 2020.
Fiction
To get a fuller picture of the Fiction category, we also included the Fiction / Romance / African American & Black BISAC code in our analysis. Black Fiction titles saw an increase of 57% in the last five years. Sales were at their peak in 2022, up 91% from 2019 but they dipped by 18% in 2023.
Subcategories
The three top selling African American & Black subcategories in the Fiction category were:
Fiction / Romance / African American & Black
Fiction / African American & Black / Women
Fiction / African American & Black / Historical
Fiction / Romance / African American & Black
Sales of Black romance titles increased by 318% in the last five years. This is not surprising considering that from 2017 to 2022 this subcategory also saw a growth in sales of 1,733%. Romance titles are thriving and diverse romance titles are flourishing as well.
Fiction / African American & Black / Women
This subcategory was up 66% from 2019 to 2023. Sales were at their peak in 2020 rising by 150% from 2019. But since then, sales for this subcategory have been unsteady as sales fell in 2021, rose in 2022 and fell again in 2023.
Fiction / African American & Black / Historical
Black Historical titles increased by 50% in the last five years. The sales were at their peak in 2022, up 93% from 2019 but decreased by 22% in 2023.
Sales of other subcategories from 2019 to 2023:
Fiction / African American & Black / General - up 34%
Fiction / African American & Black / Christian - up 24%
Fiction / African American & Black / Erotica - down 97%
Fiction / African American & Black / Mystery & Detective - up 62%
Fiction / African American & Black / Urban & Street Lit - down 56%
Top Selling
These are the 10 top selling Fiction and Non-Fiction titles from 2019 to 2023.
Non-Fiction
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith
The Black History Book by DK
It Was Dark There All the Time by Andrew Hunter 🍁
Movers, Shakers, History Makers: The Canadian Black History Book of Rhymes by Akilah Newton 🍁, illus. by Danielle Murrell Cox 🍁
Go Do Some Great Thing by Crawford Kilian 🍁
Medical Apartheid by Harriet A. Washington
Big Dreamers: the Canadian Black History Activity Book for Kids Volume 1 (2nd Edition) by Akilah Newton 🍁 & Tami Gabay 🍁, illus. by Danielle Murrell Cox 🍁
Run by John Lewis & Andrew Aydin, illus. by L. Fury & Nate Powell
All That She Carried by Tiya Miles
Fiction
The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr 🍁
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Seven Days in June (Paperback) by Tia Williams
The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris
Seven Days in June (Hardcover) by Tia Williams
Leave the World Behind (Paperback) by Rumaan Alam
Leave the World Behind (Hardcover) by Rumaan Alam
Did your favourite Black title make any of the lists? Did any of the sales numbers shock or intrigue you? Black history month is coming to a close for 2024 but continue to support Black representation in books and media year round, not just February! Check out this blog post on amplifying BIPOC voices in the publishing industry for more information on diverse publishing.
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