Scott Pape’s Barefoot Kids becomes the year’s top seller in just two months

Barefoot Investor Scott Pape has done it again. New figures show just how his latest release is smashing it in bookworld.

Money guru Scott Pape has made it big again, with official figures showing his Barefoot Kids book was the highest-selling new release title published in Australia last year – an especially extraordinary feat considering it was only released in November.

The book sold 204,352 copies in eight weeks from its publication on 7 November 2022, according to Nielsen Bookscan.

Doing it for the kids ... Scott Pape at home. Picture: David Geraghty.

It shot to No1, becoming the fastest-selling book by an Australian author since BookScan records began 20 years ago. It was also the highest-selling title by an Australian author across all categories for 2022 and the highest-selling non-fiction children’s title in five years.

News Corp columnist Mr Pape – known as the Barefoot Investor – has already had two other Number Ones: The Barefoot Investor and The Barefoot Investor For Families.

His purpose in writing Barefoot Kids, using a visual style and lots of real-life examples, was to speak directly to children about money; to help them learn and even grow enterprise empires, while maintaining core values about giving and kindness – to “roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty, and learn the value of a buck the old-fashioned way”.

Selling like Scott cakes ... Barefoot Kids.

While welcoming the latest Bookscan result, father-of-four Mr Pape kept his focus on his young audience, who (along with their parents) have been sharing positive feedback on social media and via his January series of exclusive extracts – you can read the latest here.

“Writing this book has been really humbling,” he said. “Kids from right across Australia are reading it cover-to-cover in one sitting, but even more importantly they’re using it to learn life changing lessons.”

Coin for cans ... Ryder and Alexis are among scores of real-life children with businesses featured in Barefoot Kids, happy to share their tips with other youngsters.

HarperCollins Australia CEO, Jim Demetriou, added: “When we published Barefoot Kids in November, Scott made Australian publishing history by becoming the fastest-selling Australian author since records began, so it is very pleasing to see Barefoot Kids take out the top spot for 2022. This is an incredibly important and timely book – it’s the book we all need for our kids right now and it’s clear that children and families around the country are really connecting with Scott’s message. I have no doubt that we’ll continue to see incredibly strong sales throughout 2023 and beyond.”

Barefoot Kids by Scott Pape is available now.