Category: Uncategorized

Ella Mills, Co-Founder & Creative Director of Deliciously Ella, has been awarded a Specsavers Silver Bestseller Award, powered by Nielsen, for her debut cookbook, Deliciously Ella, which has now sold over a quarter of a million copies in the UK.

The awards celebrate the most successful books in Britain based on actual sales measured by Nielsen Book.

Ella Mills, founder of Deliciously Ella, is an award-winning cookery author, entrepreneur, and champion of eating well. She started off with her popular blog, deliciouslyella.com, which has had over 110 million hits in the last three years. Her first book came out in January 2015 and has been the bestselling debut cookbook ever in the UK and a New York Times bestseller. She has since released a further three bestselling books, created a #1 app and, with her husband, opened three delis in London, as well as launching a product line across the UK. The products, launched in August 2016, are now stocked in over 3,500 stores, including Starbucks to Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Ocado, WHSmith and Holland and Barrett. The couple will launch a range of breakfasts into retail in July 2017.

Mills was handed the award at a ceremony at the Hachette offices in central London on the 20th July on an occasion to mark the huge success of Deliciously Ella, first published in 2015 by Yellow Kite, as one of the fastest-selling debut cookbooks since Nielsen Book records began in 1998.

Liz Gough, Publisher at Yellow Kite, and Ella’s editor, said ‘It has been really exciting publishing Ella’s books over the last few years – seeing the reaction from retailers and fans alike when this first one was published was amazing. Deliciously Ella was a game-changing book and this award is really significant. Getting an award of this kind is a massive achievement for any author, but it’s particularly special for a first-time author launching a brand new cookbook. Everyone at Yellow Kite and Hodder is thrilled for Ella today.’

Andre Breedt, Managing Director of Nielsen Book, said: ‘We’re delighted to be able to recognise this astonishing sale – 250,000 copies – of Ella’s first healthy eating cookbook, a title that has played a key part in the resurgence we’ve seen in the genre over the past few years.’

Dame Mary Perkins, co-founder of Specsavers, said: ‘The healthy eating phenomenon is well and truly sweeping the country and Deliciously Ella is a firm favourite in our offices. Achieving such a significant amount of sales for a debut book is a real testament to Ella’s hard work, passion and commitment to her field. It’s a pleasure to be able to present her with this well-deserved award.’

Congratulations to Tim Peake who recently received a Silver Specsavers Bestseller Award for his book – Hello, is this planet Earth? for sales of over 250,000. Pictured here with Tom Weldon, CEO of Penguin Random House UK.

Hello, is this planet Earth? takes readers on a mesmerizing tour of Tim Peake’s historic and inspirational six-month Principia mission. Based on over 150 of Tim’s stunning photographs that he took on board the international space station, many of which have not been seen before, this lavish collection showcases the beauty of earth from above, and is the perfect visual time capsule of Tim’s remarkable trip, which captured the imaginations of millions of children and adults across the world.

London, Wednesday 25 January 2017

The ‘Class of 2016’ join the Hall of Fame alongside Honorary Platinum authors Martina Cole, Anthony Horowitz and Dame Jacqueline Wilson

The authors of some of the most successful books of recent years have been honoured at the Nielsen Bestseller Awards.

The prestigious event was held at Mayfair’s No. 4 Hamilton Place, hosted by highly respected journalist and broadcaster Kate Silverton. Authors and illustrators, including Caitlin Moran, Axel Scheffler and Jojo Moyes, accepted awards for books which reached significant sales milestones of 250,000 (Silver), 500,000 (Gold) or 1m copies (Platinum) during 2016, as recorded by Nielsen BookScan.

Awards were given in three categories – Non-Fiction, Fiction and Children’s. Recently published titles to receive Platinum Awards included body coach Joe Wicks’ Lean in 15; Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train, which has gone triple platinum (three million sales) since publication in January 2015; Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You; and J.K. Rowling with co-authors John Tiffany and Jack Thorne for the script book Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Read the full press release: BESTSELLING AUTHORS HONOURED AT SPECSAVERS BESTSELLER AWARDS

Authors including J K Rowling, E L James and Julia Donaldson have made Nielsen Book’s first Bestseller Hall of Fame, as their titles are amongst those which reached platinum sales records.

The list – comprising 97 titles by 64 authors – features publications that have sold more than one million copies between 1998 and the end of 2015. It includes 46 fiction titles, 34 children’s books and 14 non-fiction titles.

Rowling appears in the list more than any other author, with nine titles breaking the platinum record, followed by Dan Brown with six. E L James has four, as do the creative team of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. However, James is the only person to achieve a ‘sextuple platinum bestseller’, with Fifty Shades of Grey selling more than six million copies.

James’ books are some of the newest to make the line up, along with the likes of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), whilst the oldest are George Orwell’s Nineteen Eight-Four, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and J R R Tolkein’s The Hobbit.

Other authors to feature in the Hall of Fame include Steig Larsson, Bill Bryson, Jamie Oliver, John Green, Sylvia Day and Helen Fielding, and out of the total, 34 are British and 23 American.

“These 97 titles offer a fascinating snapshot of the reading tastes of the British public,” said Andre Breedt, director of Nielsen Book Research. “Most titles are of recent publication, reflecting the fact that Nielsen Book began tracking book sales 18 years ago. This makes the achievement of titles dating back to more than three-quarters of a century even more impressive.”

He added: “It is interesting to note how fiction dominates over non-fiction, while the oft-presumed dominant celebrity memoir is represented by only a handful of authors.”

Nielsen will officially reveal ‘the class of 2016’ – the books that reached the million-copy milestone last year – at the Specsavers Bestseller Awards ceremony in London next week (25th January).

Specsavers founder Dame Mary Perkins said: “These are the books of our lives. I am thrilled to see so many of my own favourites on the list, and have spotted many others that I cannot wait to read.”

Kate Silverton is the host at the launch event on 25th January.

Do you read books a lot, and what genre do you like best?

I used to read voraciously, I confess though now being a mum to two small children means I tend to have a stack of books by the bedside that I only have time to dip into before I either fall fast asleep or we are disturbed by either one little person joining us or on occasion two and then I am either reading about bears, tigers or unicorns or else telling them a story in the hope they will drift off to sleep again! But I genuinely love books and am inspired by most genres. When I was younger and even today I adore Wilbur Smith – his factual accuracy meant I learnt a lot about history and Africa in particular and he was my main reason for travelling to Africa as a teenager. I had the privilege to meet him last year after he heard we had named our son after him!  I like crime stories too – at present I am also very inspired by non-fiction especially books around parenting perhaps for obvious reasons but also as my BSc degree is in Developmental Psychology and I hope to study for a Masters in Psychotherapy and Developmental Psychology later in the year.

What are you currently reading, and do you have any favourite authors?

I am currentlly reading Anatomy of a Soldier by Harry Parker.  I am interviewing him for the Barnes Literary Festival at the OSO Centre in South West London.  Harry is a former soldier who lost both his legs after being blown up in Afghanistan.  It is a stylistically ambitious novel based on a character Tom Barnes – but it is in essence Harry’s journey.  I have reported from the frontline in Afghanistan and Iraq and have lived alongside soldiers like Harry, tremendously courageous young men many of whom have now had their lives changed by war.   My husband is a former Royal Marines Commando and I continue to have a deep affinity for and admiration of the military – even if I might not always agree with the politics behind the missions.

The Specsavers Bestseller Awards celebrate the best known books of the 21st century, but what is your favourite book of all time?

Without doubt My Friend Flicka by Mary O’Hara – I read this beautiful novel written in 1941 about the son of a rancher and the incredible relationship he had with his horse Flicka.  The boy, Ken is a daydreamer and angers his parents after he fails his grades at school.   His son tries to get him to take responsibility for something and decides to give him a horse to look after.   He chooses the one horse that has a strain of mustang in her and she resists all attempts to be caught and trained.  During one escape she is severely injured and I remember still to this day the description of this horse, beautiful but broken, lying in a stream with her blood running away.  Ken effectively rescues her, saves her life but in doing so he endangers his own.  I still cannot get it out of my mind thirty odd years on.

How important to our sense of national culture do you feel it is to celebrate books and literature generally?

It is everything – absolutely everything.  I cannot conceive of a day when books don’t form a vital part of our national culture.  We must celebrate reading, books and literature always and at every opportunity. I literally cannot wait to introduce my children all the classics.  We read together every night and what a joy it was to introduce Clemency and wilbur to Alice in Wonderland recently – reading the same book my mother read to me.  It is a bit battered and torn but they are captivated by the story and pictures.

INAUGURAL SPECSAVERS BESTSELLER AWARDS TO RECOGNISE OUTSTANDING BOOK SALES IN ALL FORMATS AT JANUARY EVENT

Nielsen Book and Specsavers today announced the new Specsavers Bestseller Awards, powered by Nielsen Book, which will be officially launched at a special ceremony on 25 January 2017. The awards will celebrate success in book sales across all formats for the first time, and will replace the Nielsen Book Gold and Platinum Awards, which have used sales data to recognise achievements within the book industry since 2001. In addition to the established Platinum (1,000,000 copies) and Gold (500,000) Bestseller Awards, new Silver Awards will be introduced for books that have sold over 250,000 copies in the UK since 1998, as well as new Honorary Platinum Award that will honour authors whose collective titles have achieved similar success over in the same period. The Sunday Times, for decades identified as the home of bestseller charts, will also be the official awards media partner.

“Nielsen Book has long been planning a revamp to its existing awards due to changes in the book trade,” explained Andre Breedt, Director Nielsen Book Research UK. “We are incredibly excited to be working with Specsavers to launch Bestseller Awards that reflect the fast-changing book world. In recent years we have seen unprecedented levels of sales from authors such as J.K. Rowling and Dan Brown, while sales of backlist titles by authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien and Harper Lee, bolstered by tie-ins and media exposure, remind us that success can have a long life. We have also seen the digital revolution offer readers and authors new ways to connect. By partnering with Specsavers, long a supporter of books and a well-respected brand familiar to millions of readers, we aim to amplify what it means to be a bestseller. This will begin by recognising million copy marvels of 2016.”

Dame Mary Perkins, Chair and co-founder of Specsavers, said: “There is an obvious connection between reading and glasses and many of our customers enjoy nothing better than losing themselves in a good book, myself included. I am looking forward to seeing if there are any titles that I have yet to read. I sincerely hope that more people will join us in support of the industry and authors alike, to buy and share the most popular reads in Britain today.”

The endorsement of the Specsavers Bestseller Awards, powered by Nielsen Book data, will provide consumers with additional confidence in making purchase decisions as well as encourage readers to try authors that are new to them.

Nielsen Book has been the official tracker of print book sales through Nielsen BookScan for the last 16 years. With the addition of e-book tracking through Nielsen PubTrack Digital sales can now be comprehensively measured, making the oft-exploited term ‘bestseller’ quantifiable and trustworthy for the benefit of readers everywhere.