The first week after Easter was a dud for unit sales of print books. Sales were down in every category last week compared to the week ended April 24, 2021, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan, resulting in an overall decline of 12.6%.
Sales in adult nonfiction fell 16.4% for the week ended April 23, 2022. The top seller in the category was Own Your Past, Change Your Future by John Delony, which sold more than 31,000 copies in its first week on sale. Last year, World Travel by Anthony Bourdain was #1, selling over 50,000 copies. The autobiography/biography/memoir subcategory dropped 33.7% in the week, and sales of travel books fell almost 30%. No subcategory posted an increase compared to last year, with sales in the home/garden segment flat in the week.
Adult fiction had the best week, but sales were still down 4.5%. Dream Town by David Baldacci was #1 in the category, selling over 38,000 copies. A year ago, Baldacci’s Gambling Man was in the top slot, selling about 44,000 copies.
Sales of juvenile fiction fell 10% compared to last year. Dav Pilkey had the #1 book in both weeks with On Purpose, the newest in his Cat Kid Comic Club series, selling almost 50,000 copies, slightly higher that the 47,000 copies Dog Man: Mothering Heights sold last year. Sales in most subcategories were down in the week, including the big categories of science fiction/fantasy/magic, where units fell 6.8%, and general fiction, where units dropped 14.6%.
Young adult fiction sales fell almost 20% in the week. Last year, Adam Silvera’s They Both Die at the End was #1 in the category, selling over 13,000 copies, while last week, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson was #1, selling about 8,500 copies.
