by Matt Lynn
The Curzon Group was, of course, set up to revive the great tradition of British thriller writing. Judging by the latest public lending rights figures, which measure the most borrowed books from libraries, we’re doing a great job. Of the 100 most borrowed books, about two-thirds are crime and thrillers.
Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself. We can’t claim any of the credit for that. James Patterson and Dan Brown would have topped the list anyway. But it is gratifying to know that we are all working in the nation’s most popular genre.
The PLR figures give you an interesting take on what the country actually reads. Of course, the demographics aren’t really representative. Older and younger people use the libraries a lot more than most of the population. But it does give you an idea of what people enjoy away from the hype of the publishers and the deals done with the big supermarkets chains. So, for example, Stieg Larsson, despite all the publicity only managed to get one book in the library chart, and that was at number 76.
The message, surely, is that people like gritty, fast-paced crime and adventure stories more than anything else. Which is lucky, because that is precisely the kind of stuff we write.
Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself. We can’t claim any of the credit for that. James Patterson and Dan Brown would have topped the list anyway. But it is gratifying to know that we are all working in the nation’s most popular genre.
The PLR figures give you an interesting take on what the country actually reads. Of course, the demographics aren’t really representative. Older and younger people use the libraries a lot more than most of the population. But it does give you an idea of what people enjoy away from the hype of the publishers and the deals done with the big supermarkets chains. So, for example, Stieg Larsson, despite all the publicity only managed to get one book in the library chart, and that was at number 76.
The message, surely, is that people like gritty, fast-paced crime and adventure stories more than anything else. Which is lucky, because that is precisely the kind of stuff we write.
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