National Post (National Edition)
Author Peterson tearing up the charts
Could he become bestselling Canadian ever?
Right now, University of Toronto psychology professor Jordan Peterson is the world’s most-read Canadian author. Given that he also narrates his own audiobooks, it’s possible he may currently be buzzing through more earbuds than any other Canadian voice.
Although he first rose to international prominence as an opponent of genderneutral pronouns, Peterson’s new book, 12 Rules for Life, is largely his take on what is most “valuable” in life. And it is tearing up the charts, with Penguin Random House already deeming it one of their top performers.
Below, the latest stats on the world’s most popular piece of CanLit.
AMAZON’S MOST READ (AND MOST SOLD) NONFICTION BOOK
As the unstoppable online force that has taken a merciless scythe to brickand-mortar booksellers, Amazon generally has its finger on the pulse of what people want to read. And this week, 12 Rules for Life is not only the “most sold” work of nonfiction, it’s also the “most read,” a measure of how many people are currently reading electronic editions of the book. It’s the first Canadian book to rank this highly on Amazon since Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale experienced a 2017 resurgence inspired, in part, by its adaptation as a Hulu series. Most notably, 12 Rules for Life is also Amazon’s No. 2 top-selling book of 2018 so far.
IT’S NO. 1 ON AUDIBLE
Peterson’s self-narrated audiobook is the number one most popular book on Canadian Audible, and the No. 3 most popular on U.S. Audible. The book is easily outranking the two other usual Canadian darlings of the non-fiction section: Steven Pinker and Malcolm Gladwell.
NO. 1 BESTSELLING HARDCOVER
The industry standard for tracking book sales are the lists curated by Publisher’s Weekly. They get their data from BookScan, a data service that tracks sales numbers for all the usual places where people buy books: Walmart, Barnes & Noble, Amazon and the like. In their “hardcover nonfiction” category, Peterson is currently on top, with 19,593 copies sold last week, and 173,133 copies total since Jan. 1.
A WAYS TO GO TO BEAT ROBERT MUNSCH
There is no curated alltime leaderboard of bestselling Canadian authors, but the No. 1 spot is likely children’s author Robert Munsch. His catalogue of 50 books has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, and they’re still ubiquitous at children’s bookstores around the world. Margaret Atwood is also a likely leading contender for all-time bestselling Canadian author, although figures on her total sales are difficult to find. Ultimately, for Peterson to have a chance at the title as mostread Canadian of all time, he would need about a half-dozen more books, as well as a pretty consistent stay in the limelight.
DEAD AUTHORS STILL BEATING PETERSON
The book world is strange. A book can become a cultural phenomenon dominating headlines and cable news, and yet it can still be outsold by authors who have been dead for decades. While Peterson continues to dominate non-fiction rankings, he’s just short of the podium when ranked against fiction and children’s books. On the Publisher’s Weekly list of overall book sales, three separate Dr. Seuss books were outranking 12 Rules for Life: Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. If 12 Rules for Life is to become a contender for all-time bestselling nonfiction, the book will need to have staying power. That all depends on whether readers see 12 Rules for Life as a book merely for the world of 2018, or adopt it as a timeless tome to be passed down through the generations.