Belle Edelman, Marketing Content Manager for Nielsen BookData
How I started in publishing
I joined as a Bookseller/Barista in the Hampstead branch of Waterstones in 2016! I’d always loved books but hadn’t expected I was bookish enough to work for them. For the interview I’d been expecting a grilling on whether I’d read Ulysses or Canterbury Tales, but the manager just asked me what I was reading at that time and I told her I had just finished a really surreal book about Satan rocking up in Moscow accompanied by a gun-wielding, talking cat called Master and Margarita.
Apparently, that was sufficient – she offered me a full time position, and I accepted. I’ve been working in the industry ever since and I’m still only about 300 pages into Ulysses.
Where I work now
Now I work for Nielsen BookData as Marketing Content Manager and I love it. At BookData we play a unique and important role in the industry. We’re well known for tracking sales and putting together the bestsellers lists you see in The Bookseller and The Sunday Times, but we do plenty of other data-related activities: lots of in-depth consumer research on the performance of particular genres and formats across our various territories.
We’re well known for tracking sales and putting together the bestsellers lists you see in The Bookseller and The Sunday Times, but we do plenty of other data-related activities
We provide book metadata services, which is a vital aspect of the book industry supply chain (it’s more exciting than it sounds). When I was a bookseller I’d known Nielsen BookData as the guys behind the massive global database of books, which I depended on for checking the status of publications, availability and rights restrictions so I wouldn’t end up ordering a book for a customer that would never arrive!
The best thing about my role
My knee-jerk answer, which may be pretty specific, is that I am very nosy about what people are reading, and I really couldn’t get a better vantage point for that. But I would also say that the marketing team is outward-facing and touches on every area of the business, so I get to interact with everyone it seems!
I am very nosy about what people are reading, and I really couldn’t get a better vantage point for that
I love working with our international teams, going to events and fairs like Frankfurt and London as well as some really interesting conferences. I have of course had the opportunity to learn a lot about the trade and meet some really fantastic people, which has been amazing.
A mistake I made
I don’t really have any regrets; I try to think of them as ‘learning opportunities’ (corny, I know) although I probably could have done without the lesson ‘don’t take the bookshop safe keys home when you’re about to go on holiday’. Thankfully I think I’ve made more right decisions than wrong ones and I’m glad I embraced the opportunities I got because it’s been a blast so far.
Most fulfilling experience
Honestly, getting to work with and meet lots of smart, interesting people and read some really great books, many of which I certainly would not have encountered elsewhere. When I was a bookseller, I met one of my favourite comedians Frankie Boyle at our branch in Belfast, which was a highlight.
I told him I loved his book Meantime and we had a really nice conversation about the author James Ellroy who wrote LA Confidential. Frankie was just so kind and down to earth. I also met Fern Brady, another one of my favourite comedians at the BAMB awards in 2023 – she won a prize for Strong Female Character. She was really lovely and told me she liked my necklace.
What the future holds
Myself and my colleague Philip Stone, our Media Manager, have just started a podcast called Nielsen BookData’s the Bestsellers Podcast, so I am excited to be getting stuck into that!
Company-wise, we’ve merged with GfK Entertainment which has meant we’ve expanded our territory reach, which is really cool. I’m intrigued to see the shake ups in the industry generally, with Audiobooks, Graphic Novels and Sci-Fi and Fantasy diversifying their readerships and increasing in popularity, alongside various extraneous influences like AI and BookTok. It’s nice to see the industry weathering some transformative times, and I am certain it will continue to do so.
Book recommendation
I would recommend Filterworld by Kyle Chayka. It’s about the role recommendation algorithms play in determining our physical realities, and how that ends up having a flattening, homogenising influence on our cultures.
Chayka provides an example of a café that exists in practically every city in the world that has algorithmically optimised Instaworthy features, such as exposed brick walls, hanging light fixtures, neon signs and minimalist furniture. He applies this metaphor to music, films, TV shows and to literature as well to a certain extent.
It made me think about how much I love physical bookstores, because they are carefully curated by booksellers, and decisions across the book trade are all very human-led. I feel very lucky to be in such a peopley industry!
