Easter Books Contribute to 8% Sales Gain in Mid-March

With Easter occurring two weeks earlier this year than in 2017, unit sales of print books were 8% higher in the week ended Mar. 18, 2018, than in the comparable period in 2017 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The two juvenile categories both had double-digit sales gains over the week ended Mar. 19, 2017, with nonfiction sales up 18% and fiction sales rising 13%. Seven of the top 20 bestselling juvenile nonfiction titles were tied to Easter, including The Story of Easter by Patricia A. Pingry and Rebecca Thornburgh, which sold more than 6,000 copies, putting the board book in eighth place on the category bestseller list. Another board book, however, topped the category list: the bilingual biography The Life of Selena/La Vida de Selena by Patty Rodriguez and Ariana Stein sold more than 14,000 copies in its first week on sale. In the juvenile fiction segment, two editions of Madeleine’s L’Engle’s Wrinkle in Time continued to benefit from the release of the movie, combining to sell more than 62,000 copies in the week. Print unit sales rose 5% in adult nonfiction over 2017. Russian Roulette by Michael Isikoff sold nearly 44,000 copies in its first week on sale, landing it in the #1 spot on the category bestseller list. Another new release, The Healing Power of Essential Oils by Eric Zielinski, debuted in the fifth spot on the bestseller list, selling more than 14,000 copies. Print sales in the adult fiction category dipped 1% from 2017. The mass market edition of John Grisham’s Camino Island was #1 on the bestseller list, selling more than 27,000 copies, while Clive Cussler’s new hardcover, The Rising Sea, sold more than 16,000 copies, putting it at #2 in adult fiction.

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)