Waterstones is expanding its Book of the Month campaign in May with a new YA slot and another non-fiction offering. The retailer said it is “building on the significant growth potential of the current offer”.
The new Books of the Month will join the Fiction, Non-Fiction, Thriller, SFF and Children’s Books of the Month from 1st May 2025, and will receive full backing from the store’s bookshops across the UK and Ireland.
Waterstones and Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt revealed the news on Tuesday, Day 2 of London Book Fair (11th March), during a panel discussion with David Shelley, CEO of Hachette UK and Hachette Book Group.
Bea Carvalho, head of books at Waterstones, said of the expansion: “We are thrilled to announce the launch of two new Books of the Month in May – a second slot for non-fiction and one for YA. Our Book of the Month promotions go from strength to strength, continually creating bestsellers and boosting the audiences of our favourite authors, from exciting debuts to established stars writing across genres for adults and children.
“Last year, we were thrilled to launch a new Book of the Month for science fiction and fantasy, which has quickly established itself as one of our most successful strands. Following this, Book of the Month as a whole has grown significantly, with sales increasing across all four pre-existing slots.
“We saw particular uplift in children’s and non-fiction, both growing by more than 30% year on year, so are especially excited to grow our offering in these areas. Our YA Book of the Month will aim to cater for teens of all ages, with particular focus for the younger end of the age range, while non-fiction will focus on books in the personal development area.”
She added: “Both of these areas hold huge commercial promise but also cry out for passionate bookseller recommendation and word of mouth, so we are very excited to champion our favourite new voices in these fields with the prestige and splash of Book of the Month.”
