Discovering new authors with the Richard and Judy Book Club
Autumn 2010 saw the launch of the new Richard and Judy Book Club, exclusively with WHSmith.
Richard and Judy’s personal book recommendations and reviews give lighter book readers the confidence to try a new author or a new genre. By bringing new authors to the fore, Richard and Judy’s recommendations have played a big part in the success of authors including Kate Morton, Kate Mosse, Victoria Hislop, Audrey Neffenigger and David Mitchell. Since the launch of the Richard and Judy Book Club with WHSmith, we have seen that trend continue.
In Autumn 2010, the Richard and Judy Book Club broke WHSmith records when Richard and Judy’s first recommendation, Sister by Rosamund Lupton made Number 1 paperback and became the fastest selling title by a debut author in WHSmith’s 200-year history; while all eight of the reviewed titles went into the top 12 paperbacks in their first week of sales.
The Book Club made Rosamund Lupton a best-selling novelist overnight. Richard Madeley commented: “Sister was a fantastic novel. When we read it, Judy and I knew that we had read something very special and we’re thrilled that readers shared our views. Rosamund becoming a best-selling author overnight was the icing on the cake for us.” Rosamund Lupton was understandably delighted, describing how the Book Club has changed her life saying: “2010 was an extraordinary year and one that I never believed could have happened, having a debut novel become a Number 1 best-seller was hard to comprehend.”