Sales of print books began the second half of 2022 on a down note, with units falling 8.8% last week compared to the week ended July 10, 2021, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The sales pattern was a familiar one, with gains in adult fiction not enough to offset deep declines in adult nonfiction and the juvenile segments.
On the bright side, adult fiction sales rose 4.9%, as interest in all things to do with Colleen Hoover showed no signs of abating. Hoover placed five titles among the top 10 on the fiction bestsellers list, led by It Ends with Us, which sold more than 60,000 copies. Number 1 in the category was Where the Crawdads Sings by Delia Owens, which sold more than 80,000 copies as the film based on the novel hits theaters. The top-selling new release was Lore Olympus: Volume Two by Rachel Smythe, which sold more than 38,000 copies, putting it in fifth place on the category chart.
Adult nonfiction sales fell 13.8% in the week. The bestselling new release in the category was The Wild Unknown Alchemy Deck and Guidebook by Kim Krans, which was number 26 on the BookScan category list, selling about 3,500 copies. The #1 title remained James Clear’s Atomic Habits, which sold more than 16,000 copies. Last year at this time, How I Saved the World by Jesse Watters was the top seller, selling almost 34,000 copies, followed by Trejo by Danny Trejo, which sold over 13,000 copies.
Juvenile fiction sales dropped 14.8%. No newly-released title cracked the BookScan top 50 sellers in the week. Cat Kid Comic Club: On Purpose by Dav Pilkey was the category’s #1 seller, selling almost 12,000 copies.
With all subcategories in the juvenile nonfiction category falling, total sales dropped 17.6%. The education/reference/language and games/activities/hobbies subject categories both had declines of more than 20% in the week.
The small young adult nonfiction category had a 4.3% increase in the week, though that seems to have more to do with the mischaracterization of adult coloring books in the YA category. Stranger Things: The Official Coloring Book rode the success of the Netflix series to sell nearly 9,000 copies in its second week on sale. Two Johanna Basford coloring books also sold in relatively good numbers last week, selling a total of about 2,700 copies.