What are the Bestseller Awards based on?

The Bestseller Awards are awarded according to print and e-book sales in the UK. The sales are calculated using sales data collected by BookScan and PubTrack Digital. Silver status is awarded to books that sell over 250,000 copies, Gold status is awarded to books that sell over 500,000 copies, and Platinum status is awarded to books that sell over 1,000,000 copies.

What is the purpose of the Silver, Gold & Platinum Bestseller Awards?

The three awards serve as an official recognition and celebration of outstanding sales in the UK, as determined by the official recorder of book sales data in the UK, Nielsen BookData. Bestseller Awards are used by publishers to recognise the success of their authors and as part of a title’s marketing campaign.

What is an Author Platinum Award?

The Author Platinum Award was introduced in 2017 to celebrate authors that had achieved sales of 5,000,000 across all formats, but not necessarily with a single title. As with the other Platinum Status winners, Author Platinum Award winners are entered into the Bestseller Award Hall of Fame. Previous winners include Sophie Kinsella, Jacqueline Wilson and Anthony Horowitz.

How are sales monitored?

Sales are measured through BookScan and PubTrack digital. Print book sales include those through the online and physical retailers, airports and supermarkets. A full list of BookScan and PubTrack Digital contributors is available from Nielsen BookData. All editions of a book – paperback, hardback, e-book and film tie-in, where the full text is included, (but excluding audiobooks, sticker/activity books or any other version which is materially different) are counted towards an award.

Publishers are alerted when one of their titles reaches the threshold to qualify for one of the three awards: 250,000 for Silver, 500,000 for Gold and 1,000,000 for platinum.

What kind of books are eligible?

All books and e-books, with the exception of textbooks and manuals, are eligible. Free or remainder products (using the guideline for print books selling for less than 50% of the RRP) and audiobooks are excluded. Exclusions are handled on a case-by-case basis.

Are self-published books and e-books eligible for Bestseller Awards?

Any title that meets the criteria of sales and price, and for which Nielsen BookData has verifiable sales data, is eligible for a Bestseller Award. This includes self-published titles and titles that are exclusively available as e-books.

What about books sold overseas?

The Bestseller Awards relate to sales in the UK only. Similar award schemes may be introduced in other territories, for more information contact Nielsen BookData.

Who is our partner?

BolognaBookPlus is the general adult trade arm of the acclaimed Bologna Children’s Book Fair, created in 2021, in association with the Italian Publishers Association (AIE). It takes place annually in Spring alongside BCBF, and offers a broad range of opportunities for publishers, agents, and visitors.