The Hamilton Review of Books' Independently Published Bestsellers List: November 2024
Take a look at which independently published books Canadians are purchasing from independent bookstores.
December 17, 2024
Fiction
The Amethyst Cross: A Ghost Story for Christmas by Mary Fitt, Biblioasis
Podolo: A Ghost Story for Christmas by L. P. Hartley, Biblioasis
No Credit River by Zoe Whittall, Book*Hug Press
Zegaajimo: Indigenous Horror Fiction by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm (Editor), Nathan Adler (Editor), Kegedonce Press
What I Know About You by Éric Chacour (Author), Pablo Strauss (Translator), Coach House Books
Tilting Towards Joy: Short Stories by Margaret Macpherson, Signature Editions
Bad Weather Mammals: Poems by Ashley-Elizabeth Best, ECW Press
Blessed Nowhere by Catherine Black, Guernica Editions
Grounds for Murder: A Jeannie Wolfert-Lang Mystery by Betty Ternier Daniels, ECW Press
The Unweaving by Cheryl Parisien, Tidewater Press
Nonfiction
What I Mean to Say: Remaking Conversation in Our Time by Ian Williams, House of Anansi Press
40 Days & 40 Hikes: Loving the Bruce Trail One Loop at a Time by Nicola Ross, ECW Press
Dangerous Memory: Coming of Age in the Decade of Greed by Charlie Angus, House of Anansi Press
Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City by Tanya Talaga, House of Anansi Press
Living Disability: Building Accessible Futures for Everybody by Emily Macrae (Editor), Coach House Books
The Social Safety Net: Canada in Decline by Nora Loreto, Dundurn Press
When the Pine Needles Fall: Indigenous Acts of Resistance by Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel (Author), Pamela Palmater (Foreword), Audra Simpson (Afterword), Sean Carleton, Between the Lines
Vantage Points: On Media as Trans Memoir by Chase Joynt, Arsenal Pulp Press
Prairie Oddities: Punkinhead, Peculiar Gravity, and More Lesser Known Histories by Darren Bernhardt, Great Plains Press
Home Truths: Fixing Canada's Housing Crisis by Carolyn Whitzman, On Point Press (UBC Press)
Kids
The Animal People Choose a Leader by Richard Wagamese (Author), Bridget George (Illustrator), Douglas & McIntyre
Bog Myrtle by Sid Sharp, Annick Press
The Keeper of Stars by Jennifer Harris (Author), Dorothy Leung (Illustrator), Owlkids
The Last Green Dragon by Rud Verhagen, Your Nickel's Worth Publishing
Little by Little: You Can Change the World by Sonya Ballantyne (Author), Rhael McGregor (Illustrator), Toben Racicot (Letterer), HighWater Press
How I Built This List:
I am very grateful for all the bookstores who generously shared their sales data with me. The information used to create this list was drawn from the sales of Another Story Bookshop in Toronto, The City and the City Books in Hamilton, Epic Books in Hamilton, McNally Robinson Booksellers (both the Grant Park and the Forks Locations in Winnipeg), McNally Robinson Saskatoon, Shelf Life Books in Calgary and Wordsworth Books in Waterloo. We’re covering a fair amount of Canada, but I hope to add more stores over time and create a more wide-ranging list. If you are a bookstore who would like to contribute to the list please get in touch with us, we’d love to have more information.
Many of the authors on this list will be new to readers, but what I’ve done here is create a bestseller list drawn only from those books published by Canadian-owned independent presses. Most of the books in the top half of both the fiction and the nonfiction bestseller lists sold well in several of the stores on the list and many of the other titles are books that sold well in only one or two stores who shared information. Sometimes these were strongly regional titles. This November we’re seeing the shift to holiday purchases as the Christmas gift books appear on the charts in the fiction and kids lists, while the nonfiction is still very topical.
I acknowledge that this list is not at all perfect. It is only a small sampling of the data out there, but it is a fascinating look at what independently published books Canadians are purchasing from independent bookstores across a reasonable amount of Canada.
My deep thanks to the Hamilton Review of Books for publishing this Independent Bestseller List. Please, if you’re looking for something wonderful to read, visit your nearest independent bookstore and ask them what they suggest. The people who work in these stores know an amazing amount about books and will find you your next best possible read.
Noelle Allen