Waterstones managing director James Daunt revealed Super Thursday boosted sales by 5% following a “better vintage” of book launches this year.

The Super Thursday publishing phenomenon, the day where publishers release the books they hope will be Christmas bestsellers, provided Waterstones with a 6% year-on-year lift on the day itself, while sales from Thursday through to Sunday were 5% up.

Sales were driven by the release of the Bill Bryson’s The Road to Little Dribbling book, which Daunt said has the potential to be “an absolute monster”.

Daunt said: “It is a good year publishing wise, there are plenty of decent books, so we should be in good shape for Christmas.

“It is a better vintage than last year, in wine terms the harvest has done very well.”

Daunt said that this Super Thursday the “stars were aligned” because along with the decent selection of books the day received increased media coverage and the good weather meant people were “out and about”.

Sales were also boosted by the release of the Great British Bake Off book following last Wednesday’s final.

Rival retailer Foyles has also reported a sales boost from Super Thursday. Total sales were up 20%, while on a like-for-like basis sales on the day jumped 10%.