Soft Kids, Adult Fiction Sales Drop Units 0.8% in Early December

Declines in adult fiction and juvenile fiction and nonfiction offset a 7.6% increase in adult nonfiction sales, resulting in a 0.8% drop in unit sales of print books for the week ended Dec. 8, 2018, compared to the similar week last year at outlets the report to NPD BookScan. The gain in the adult nonfiction segment was led once again by Michelle Obama’s Becoming, which sold nearly 441,000 copies in the week, bringing its BookScan sales total to just under two million units. In second place on the adult nonfiction list was a new title, The Point of It All by Charles Krauthammer, the longtime columnist who died in June. The book sold almost 73,000 copies in its first week. Juvenile fiction had strong titles at the top of its list but soft sales elsewhere, resulting in a 10% decline. The two top-selling titles in the category in the most recent week, Jeff Kinney’s Meltdown and The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith, combined to sell 189,000 copies, while the two biggest sellers in the week ended Dec. 9, 2017, Kinney’s Getaway and Wonder by R.J. Palacio, sold a total of about 183,000 copies. Similar to the holiday season last year, there has been no must-have novel in 2018—one reason unit sales fell 5.6% compared to 2017. The #1 adult fiction title in the most recent week was John Grisham’s The Reckoning, which sold more than 42,000 copies, while #2, Of Blood and Bone by Nora Roberts, sold more than 36,000 copies. Last year Dan Brown’s Origin claimed the fiction top spot in the week, selling 53,000 copies, while Grisham’s Rooster was second with 48,000 copies sold.

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