One of the strongest sales weeks yet for adult fiction was not enough to prevent unit sales of print books from declining 3.7% last week compared to the week ended August 21, 2021 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.
The 17% increase in sales of adult fiction was due to another strong showing for Colleen Hoover titles—It Ends with Us was #1 in the category, with almost 76,000 copies sold in the week—plus solid debuts for three new titles. All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers sold more than 43,000 copies in its first week, landing it in fifth place on the category bestseller list. Jujutsu Kaisen, Vol. 17 by Gege Akutami sold nearly 30,000 copies in its first week, and Danielle Steel’s The Challenge sold almost 20,000 copies.
The young adult fiction category was the only other major segment to have a sales gain in the week. The Tim Burton-inspired Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw was #1 in the category for the third week in a row, selling nearly 18,000 copies. Sales of Jenny Han’s titles related to the Amazon Prime series The Summer I Turned Pretty are cooling, but the four books have sold more than 992,000 copies so far this year.
The 8.2% drop in adult nonfiction sales came despite a good debut for three new titles. Spelljammer, a Dungeons and Dragons videogame and three-title box set, was #1, selling more than 25,000 copies. Vacuuming in the Nude by Peggy Row sold almost 15,000 copies while Definitive Word Search, Vol. 1 sold over 14,000 copies.
Children's fiction sales fell 11.1% compared to 2021. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle stayed #1, selling almost 12,000 copies. Sales of children's nonfiction dropped 20.6% as all subcategories had declines, with education/reference/language having the biggest decline with sales falling 39%.
