Favorites Drive 7% Gain in Units

At outlets that report to NPD BookScan, unit sales of print books were 7% higher in the week ended June 25, 2017, than in the similar week in 2016, with three of the four major categories posting solid gains. The increase came despite a dearth of hot new titles. Unit sales in the juvenile nonfiction category jumped 16%; the top 20 bestsellers were dominated by a combination of Summer Bridge Activities and Brain Quest titles. The strongest new seller was The Day the World Went Nuclear by Bill O’Reilly, which sold more than 10,000 copies in its first week. The juvenile fiction category also posted a double-digit increase from the week ended June 26, 2016. Its 10% gain was led by strong sales from the popular backlist book Wonder by P.J Palacio, which topped the juvenile fiction list with more than 29,000 copies sold. In second place was Everything,

Everything by Nicola Yoon, which sold more than 17,000 copies. The 8% increase in unit sales in the adult nonfiction segment was due, in part, to a strong showing from the backlist Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur, which was the week’s top seller in the category, with more than 19,000 copies sold. Unit sales in adult fiction were basically flat in the week. John Grisham’s Camino Island stayed #1 with more than 55,000 copies sold. The highest-placing new novel was The Silent Corner by Dean Koontz, which was #4 on the category list, selling more than 16,000 hardcover copies. In terms of format, board books led the way, with sales up 20% from the comparable week in 2016.

Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel (in thousands)

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category (in thousands)

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format (in thousands)