Samantha Harvey’s Booker-winning Orbital has rocketed to the top of the UK bestseller chart, becoming the first Booker novel to hit number one in the week of its win.
20,040 copies were sold in the UK last week across paperback and hardback editions, according to Nielsen BookData.
Orbital, which narrates a day in the life of six astronauts on the International Space Station, was announced as the winner of the £50,000 prize last Tuesday evening.
Day one sales “eclipsed all recent winners, selling considerably more than double the volume of each of the last decade’s winners” at Waterstones, said its head of books Bea Carvalho.
Sales of Orbital across the chain’s stores increased nearly 3,000% between last Tuesday and Wednesday, with demand growing throughout the week. “At this stage, sales suggest that like for like it will be the bestselling Booker prize winner through Waterstones,” Carvalho said.
Independent bookshops have also seen high demand for Harvey’s fifth novel. Alex Forbes, who owns Fourbears Books in Reading, said that he thinks Orbital being out in paperback has helped sales, with “many people saying that they wanted to read other titles on the shortlist but don’t want hardbacks”. Of the shortlist, only Orbital and Anne Michaels’ Held are out in paperback.
The specific genre and style of Orbital may also be drawing in readers. “For me, it’s a story of humanity and the fragility of human life, but it’s not as common for books to make these observations from space, which attracts the readers who enjoy genre fiction as well as those who stick to literary books,” said Forbes.
It “appeals as much to gritty realism lovers like me as to sci-fi nuts,” agreed Tom Rowley, who owns independent bookshop Backstory in Balham London. “My main job between now and Christmas is just going to be pressing the reorder button.”
The length of the book may also be a contributing factor to its commercial success – at 136 pages, Orbital is the second-shortest book to win the Booker in the prize’s history, running to four pages longer than Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald, which won in 1979. Orbital is “slim enough for us to persuade even the most Booker-averse customer to give it a go”, said Rowley. Its brevity also appeals as it “seems manageable when people potentially have busy lives”, said Forbes.
Since its release in November last year, Orbital has sold 54,212 copies across hardback and paperback editions.
Today, it was announced that the book has been longlisted for the inaugural Climate fiction prize, worth £10,000. The shortlist will be announced on 19 March.
“It has been joyous to see Samantha Harvey and her Booker win celebrated euphorically by everyone within the books ecosystem and especially booksellers who have been championing Orbital from the very start,” said Hannah Telfer, managing director of Penguin imprint Vintage, which publishes Orbital. Harvey’s novel is “an exceptional book and it is setting new records already.”
Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Vintage, £9.99). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
