Philip Stone, Media Manager Nielsen BookData
How I started in publishing
I joined the book industry in early 2000 as a part-time bookseller at Waterstones — a branch on Charing Cross Road which is now an American candy shop. In all honesty, I wasn’t really into books at the time. I simply needed a job while at university in London, and Waterstones was the first to reply to my speculative letters to various retailers in the West End asking for work.
I joined The Bookseller magazine as its Charts Editor in 2007, then moved to Penguin Random House’s Insight team in 2014
I went full-time at Waterstones after graduating and then into management within a year or so. I joined The Bookseller magazine as its Charts Editor in 2007, then moved to Penguin Random House’s Insight team in 2014, where I worked for five years.
Where I work now
I’ve been a member of Nielsen BookData’s Book Research division since 2019, where I put my 20-plus years’ worth of book trade experience to good use analysing consumer sales and demographic data to help our clients understand trends in the UK book market.
The best thing about my role
On average last year there were around 350 books published every day in the UK, so I feel incredibly fortunate to work in a role where there’s always something new to talk about. 600,000 different books have sold at least one copy in the UK thus far this year, and only about 2% of that figure are books released in 2024, so there’s a lot of old stuff to talk about too.
A mistake I made
I was in my early 20s when I got my first management role at Waterstones and, even though I’d completed the company’s excellent Fast Track to Management course, in retrospect I wasn’t prepared for many aspects of it. I was fine at the numbers, managing stock, managing rotas, hitting P&L targets, etc., but on the people management side, there were things I was unprepared for.
…on the people management side, there were things I was unprepared for
My colleagues were superb, passionate, knowledgeable, and diverse but my one-size-fits-all management approach was misguided. I’m still friends with some of them today, 20 years on, so I guess I wasn’t a completely awful boss, but for sure there are things I’d do differently now in terms of people management, giving feedback and empowerment.
Most fulfilling experiences
One branch of Waterstones I worked at had a superb signings/events programme, so I’ve met a fair few famous faces over the years, including Sir Brian May and Sir Geoff Hurst, plus personal heroes like David Mitchell (the novelist), Zadie Smith and Paul Auster.
I also love presenting and have appeared at numerous book conferences over the years, sharing insights about the UK book market. I’m also fortunate enough to have appeared on the radio and television, too, from talking about celebrity memoirs on Newsnight to discussing the winners of the oddest book title of the year award, which I used to curate in my time at The Bookseller, with John Humphrys on The Today Programme.
What the future holds
Nielsen BookData is expanding into more territories across the globe and, following a merger with the market research company GfK, we’ve got more international data at our fingertips than ever before.
my main focus outside of the office is being the best father to my son, Xander, and the best partner to my wife, Catriona, that I can possibly be
In terms of book sales in the UK and Ireland, printed book sales fell year-on-year in volume terms in 2023, but due to increases in average selling prices, the actual amount spent on books in the UK and Ireland was up versus 2022.
I’m acutely aware from the data we see coming into the business that the cost-of-living crisis is very real for millions of people across the UK and Ireland, and that cutting back on book purchases is a real consideration for many. However, I’m cautiously optimistic that as the nations’ economies recover, so will book purchases.
As for what the future holds for me personally, I became a dad for the first time on Boxing Day in 2022. As such, my main focus outside of the office is being the best father to my son, Xander, and the best partner to my wife, Catriona, that I can possibly be.
Book recommendation this month
I’m on a health drive currently, so my recommendation is Tom Kerridge’s cookbook, Lose Weight for Good. It is full of easy, accessible, low-calorie recipes that pack plenty of flavour. I own a lot of cookbooks but the ones by Tom Kerridge, plus those by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sabrina Ghayour, I go back to week after week.
There’s a new kind of celebrity in the cookbook market, with food bloggers and social media food creatives replacing the TV chefs of yesteryear. However, personally speaking, I gravitate more towards books by accredited chefs and restauranteurs who have spent a lifetime in a kitchen, earning their aprons.
