Book bedlam as hundreds hit shelves on 'Super Thursday'

The shelves are packed with new glossy hardbacks, authors are anxious and publishers frantic: Super Thursday is here.

In what has become the busiest day of the year for authors and publishers, more books are published today than on any other day of the year.

Publishers believe it offers the best chance for potential bestsellers of the Christmas season to be launched.

Super Thursday tends to fall in late September or early October. This year, most in the trade have opted for Thursday October 11. However, star writers JK Rowling and Jamie Oliver released their books on September 27.

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More than 220 hardback books have hit the shelves today, with celebrity autobiographies leading the way. Cheryl Cole, David Walliams and Rod Stewart are among those giving a glimpse into their personal lives.

For booksellers - such as Book Cupboard, In Other Words Books and Book Network - it marks the beginning of the Christmas season, with crowds of people expected to flock to stores to snap up the latest publications.

Philip Stone, charts editor of The Bookseller, explained: "Super Thursday is the biggest day of the year in terms of the calibre of the books and the authors in general.

"Publishers are after the Christmas market because about one-fifth of the annual total spend on books takes place in the last month of the year.”

For a list of book sellers in Plymouth, click here.