The rankings of the best-selling books for Sant Jordi move: in the list provided that day by the Book Chamber, which accounted for the information collected during the day and the previous days by the bookstores of the Booksellers Guild of Catalonia and the information collected by LibriRed, a large part of the day’s sales, and especially the book stalls, was missing, up to 40%, according to industry sources. The Book Chamber plans to offer a more accurate balance sheet this week. Several editors and authors consulted by this newspaper criticize the bad image given by proclaiming a Sant Jordi winner and replacing him with another a few days later.
Indeed, according to the data La Vanguardia has had access to, in Catalan the best-selling book during Sant Jordi week was Xavier Bosch’s novel 32 de març (Univers), while Gemma’s Sant Jordi award Ruiz Palà , Les nostres mares (Proa) would move to second position. From here, the indicators differ depending on whether the source is LibriRed or the GfK consultancy – with estimates that according to some publishers are more reliable, because they cover more points of sale. According to LibriRed, they would be followed by Prayer to Prosérpina (La Campana), by Albert Sánchez Piñol, and two international titles that were already in the provisional results, The Portrait of Marriage (The Other), by Maggie O’Farrell, and Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow (Periscope), by Gabrielle Zevin. In Spanish, the information did not reflect changes in the first place.
In non-fiction there are also changes, since if on St. George’s Day it was taken for granted that the best seller was the Great Encyclopédia del Barça, by La Sotana (Blackie Books), it has now become De la sabana on Mars (Rosa dels Vents), by Xavier Sala and MartÃn, with the new installment of Carles Porta, Crimes: capital sins (La Campana) maintaining second place.
Xavier Bosch reminded La Vanguardia yesterday that “whatever the lists say, the books sold that day are the same. When you are the best seller of Sant Jordi, they don’t give you a glass or a check for a million euros, although there is a certain satisfaction. I had been the best seller in other years and the feeling I had was that it was the best I had ever experienced”, he said. “What I have to do is good stories, because I don’t write to compete but in favor of the reader, and above all I have no desire to generate controversy, least of all with Gemma Ruiz, who has all my admiration”.
Ruiz’s editor, Josep Lluch, understands that the changes are due to the different times at which the data are submitted, which are, after all, estimates. “We celebrated being the best sellers, and if we have to congratulate Xavier Bosch now we will do so, sportingly. It had been years since the Sant Jordi award had had such strength”, he assured.
Ruiz, for his part, recalled that the list barely represents 5% of the total number of books sold.
