In 1861, the original domestic goddess Mrs Beeton warned her readers: “not only health but life may be said to depend on the cleanliness of culinary utensils.” More than a century and a half later, more than 150,000 people have rushed to snap up a copy of Instagram “cleanfluencer” Mrs Hinch’s guide to a spotless home, Hinch Yourself Happy, which promises to reveal “how a spot of cleaning is the perfect way to cleanse the soul”.
Mrs Hinch, AKA Sophie Hinchliffe, is a hairdresser from Essex who dispenses regular cleaning advice to her 2.3 million Instagram followers: how to make a bed “‘bedgasm’ ready for the week ahead”, her favourite cleaning gloves, dousing her bathroom in disinfectant and karate-chopping cushions. Her book, a mix of memoir and advice, promises that cleaning (which she calls “hinching”) “can soothe anxiety and stress”, according to her publisher Michael Joseph, which bought the rights to the book in a “heated” 11-way auction in December. Published on 4 April, the book sold sold 160,302 copies in three days – making it the second fastest-selling non-fiction title of all time, just behind Kate Allinson and Kay Featherstone’s recipe collection Pinch of Nom, which broke the record just last month by selling 210,506 copies in three days.
So how have two debut books come to topple sales records within weeks of each other? Hinchliffe is one of a wave of influencers to land a publishing deal, arriving as they do with a passionate band of ready-made followers to be tapped. She is also not the only Instagram cleaning expert to put pen to paper. Lynsey Crombie, AKA “Queen of Clean”, published How to Clean Your House in March, while Gemma Bray, the “Organised Mum” behind The Organised Mum Method, has a book out in September. Last month alone, “Clean Mama” Becky Rapinchuk released her most recent book, Guide to a Healthy Home; as did Clean My Space YouTuber Melissa Maker (The Secret to Cleaning Better, Faster, and Loving Your Home Every Day), and “This Girl Can Organise” Nicola Lewis’s Mind Over Clutter. But to date, Hinchliffe is by far and away the biggest seller, with her sales topped only by Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying.
As someone who gave the Kondo method a try, I can vouch for the anxiety reduction that comes with not having to sort through thousands of odd, holey socks before finding a pair that’s wearable, and of having clothes that actually fit your child neatly packed in a drawer, rather than finding out they’re too small once you’ve wrangled them on. There is something to be said for achieving dominion over a small area of home life, while the world is at sea; as the agency representing her, Gleam Futures, said in their announcement of her mammoth sales: “In times of uncertainty and political chaos, [Hinchliffe] has reminded us all of the importance of the home, and how we can all feel empowered and safe within it.”
Cleaning feeds into our desire for an achievable daily accomplishment; Hinchliffe, so endlessly encouraging and warm on her Instagram feed, is a champion cheerleader. And according to her regularly updated social media, she is now expecting a baby – if her house stays that spotless, maybe I’ll buy in too.
