26 Feb 09

Purple Ronnie: literary leader!

The people’s purple poet dominates bestsellers list – again!

Valentine’s Day is Purple Ronnie’s Day! In the week leading up to the most romantic day of the year the people’s purple poet had no fewer than four books in the Sunday Times non-fiction hardback bestsellers list – two of them in the top 5!

The two newest Pan Macmillan publications to feature Giles Andreae’s cheeky cartoon Casanova were major hits in the February 15th list only weeks after publication. Purple Ronnie’s Little Book for the World’s Best Boyfriend was at number 3 and Purple Ronnie’s Little Book for the World’s Best Girlfriend at number 5.

It’s impressive enough for two such recent releases to storm the charts so quickly. However, at number 12 you would also have found Purple Ronnie’s Little Book for a Perfect Lover – first published in 2007 – and at number 15 Purple Ronnie’s Little Book of Love – which came out in 2005 – back in the charts for Valentine’s Day and still selling well years after their first appearance.

Giles Andreae’s friendly, frisky bloke has sold millions of books and tens of millions of greetings cards since his first appearance in the 1980s. Acquired from its creator by Coolabi in 2007, the brand’s popularity continues to grow, with already impressive sales regularly boosted by new publications for key occasions. For example, in the 2 weeks leading up to and including Father’s Day in 2008, Purple Ronnie’s Little Book for a Smashing Dad and Purple Ronnie’s Little Book for a Smashing Granddad both achieved the number one and number two position on the bestseller’s list, changing places in the last week.

Jon Butler, Editorial Director of Boxtree, the Pan Macmillan division that publishes Purple Ronnie, says: ‘Boxtree is thrilled to have had no fewer than four Purple Ronnie books in the bestseller charts in the same week. It’s amazing to think that even after two decades, the much-loved Purple Ronnie brand is still the one that book buyers turn to as a gift on Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.’

Janet Woodward, Head of Licensing at Coolabi, adds: ‘We have enjoyed working in with Pan Macmillan and Boxtree to develop new Purple Ronnie gift book titles perfectly suited both to the brand and to the occasion – and Ronnie’s multiple presence in the bestseller charts underlines that fact. With his popularity higher than ever, we feel the brand has the potential to continue and even build on that success for a very long time to come.’

For further information please contact :

Jane Garner & Sallie Deary

jgarner@kilog.co.uk / sdeary@kilog.co.uk

kilogrammedia ltd

Bury Barn

Brent Pelham

Hertfordshire

SG9 0AU

t + 44 ( 0 ) 1279 778 919

f + 44 ( 0 ) 1279 778 929