Increases in adult fiction and young adult were not enough to offset declines in the adult nonfiction and juvenile categories, resulting in a 2.4% decline in unit sales of print books last week compared to 2021.
Sales of adult fiction rose 15.9% last week at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. While Colleen Hoover had four of the top five category bestsellers, two new titles fared well. Fellow BookTok favorite Taylor Jenkins Reid’s new book, Carrie Soto is Back, sold more than 34,000 copies in its first week, putting it in sixth place on the category bestseller list. The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith (the adult pen name of J.K. Rowling) was in seventh place, selling just under 34,000 copies.
Young adult fiction sales rose 9.5%, also helped by a couple of new releases. The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes was #1 on the category list, selling more than 46,000 copies. In seventh place was Belladonna by Adalyn Grace, which sold over 7,000 copies.
A host of new titles hitting the category bestseller list was not enough to prevent sales in the adult nonfiction category from falling 7%. The Great Reset by Alex Jones sold more than 30,000 copies in its first week, landing it in second place on the category list, followed by Feeding Littles and Beyond by Ali Maffucci, which sold over 21,000 copies. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy remained at the top of the category list, selling over 34,000 copies.
Sales of juvenile fiction dropped 10.5% in the week, despite good debuts by three new releases. The Hocus Pocus Spell Book by Eric Geron was in third place on the category list, selling more than 12,000 copies, while Hocus Pocus: The Illustrated Novelization by A.W. Jantha, was in sixth place, selling over 10,000 copies. (The Hocus Pocus 2 film is due to be released September 30.) There was no big book topping the juvenile list a year ago, as Little Blue Truck’s Halloween by Alice Schertle was #1, selling just over 15,000 copies.
The juvenile nonfiction category had the largest decline in the week, with units falling 17.4%. All subcategories had sales declines, with sales in education/reference/language tumbling almost 25%.
