One is a doctor from Afghanistan, the other a Swedish anti-racism campaigner who has been dead for four years, but together Khaled Hosseini and Stieg Larsson can claim more positions on global bestseller charts than JK Rowling and teen vampire queen Stephenie Meyer.
The authors take the top two spots in an analysis of 2008’s international fiction bestsellers by book trade magazines the Bookseller in the UK, Publishers Weekly in the US and Livres Hebdo in France, which ranked authors by their chart positions on the monthly bestseller lists in France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, China, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US. Aggregated total sales figures were not available, but by this reckoning Hosseini was the world’s most popular author in 2008. His books - The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns - took top 10 spots in seven of the nine countries.
Ken Follett, whose thrillers have proved so popular in Spain that a statue was erected there in his honour last year, also made it into the charts in seven different countries, but he was edged out by Larsson, author of the bestselling detective series which launched with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, when sales rankings of individual hits are factored in (basically, Larsson did better in fewer countries). Larsson charted in five countries, as did American legal thriller author John Grisham, whose latest book, The Appeal, sees a pair of lawyers take on a chemical company which has polluted a small town’s water supply with toxic waste.
The rest of the top 10 is made up of an eclectic mix of names, with JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer sitting alongside Muriel Barbery, author of quirky French hit The Elegance of the Hedgehog, The Shadow of the Wind writer Carlos Ruiz Zafón, French novelist Anna Gavalda and Kurt Wallander creator Henning Mankell.
"They are all telling fairly simple, universal stories," said Philip Jones, managing editor of the Bookseller’s website, talking about why the authors have universal appeal. "From vampires to evil businessmen to wizards, these are recognisable tropes."
The lists make depressing reading for fans of literature in translation: of the 387 authors who featured in the nine countries’ top 10 fiction charts last year, just 27 made it into the charts in another country, with the number falling to 12 for three countries. "Less than 10% of authors make the transition to another country - I think this is extraordinary," said Jones. "It’s partly because publishers have not been very adept at marketing authors in different countries - they tend to stick to their own territories."
But he said this was starting to change, as publishers begin to realise the importance of global recognition for their writers. "Publishers are now really looking for these global hits - I would expect the list of 27 to grow," he said.
Global top 20 book bestsellers (fiction) 2008*
1 Khaled Hosseini
2 Stieg Larsson (아르테 출판)
3 Ken Follett
4 Stephenie Meyer
5 Muriel Barbery (아르테 출판)
6 Carlos Ruiz Zafón
7 Anna Gavalda
8 John Grisham
9 JK Rowling
10 Henning Mankell
11 Alan Bennett
12 Jodi Picoult
13 Christopher Paolini
14 David Baldacci
15 Nicholas Sparks
16 Elizabeth George
17 Lauren Weisberger
18 Michael Connelly
19 Patricia D Cornwell
20 Paulo Coelho
* Ranked by chart positions on the monthly bestseller lists from publications including Buchreport, China Publishing Today, El Cultural, Boekblad, and Svensk Bokhandel. The international bestsellers lists are compiled by consultant Rüdiger Wischenbart.
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