Unit sales of print books fell 17.1% last week compared to the week ended November 13, 2021, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. It was the third consecutive week that sales fell by double digits compared to 2021.

All six categories had declines in the week, with four segments recording drops of more than 20%. The industry’s biggest category, adult nonfiction, had a 20.4% decline. The #1 book in the category was Matthew Perry’s Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, which sold almost 35,000 copies. Last year at this time Will by Will Smith was #1, selling just under 85,000 copies. The best performing new release was Good Boundaries and Goodbyes by Lysa Terkeurst, which sold more than 30,000 copies.

Juvenile fiction sales also fell by just over 20% last week. Jeff Kinney’s newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, Diper Överlöde, once again was #1 in the category, selling over 87,000 companies; a year ago his Big Shot was tops in the segment, selling about 113,000 copies. The bestselling new release last week was Shannon Messenger’s Stellarlune, which sold about 50,000 copies, putting it in second place on the category list.

The juvenile nonfiction category had the largest decline with sales falling 25.1%. The top seller was School Zone Big Preschool Workbook, which sold over 10,000 copies. Last year the #1 seller was Dan Green’s How to Draw 101 Animals, which sold nearly 19,000 copies.

For the second week in a row, the adult fiction category had a sales decline, albeit a small one of 0.7%. Colleen Hoover did her best to hold up sales with her It Starts with Us and It Ends with Us running one-two in the category, selling about 119,000 and 60,000 copies respectively. The bestselling new novel was Michael Connelly’s Desert Star, which sold just over 45,000 copies. Last year the #1 title in the week was The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom, which sold about 57,000 copies.

Young adult fiction sales slipped 3.5% despite good showings for a number of new titles. Charm by Tracy Wolff was #1, selling almost 23,000 copies in its first week.

Through mid-November, unit sales were down 5.8% from the comparable period a year ago.