A combination of a 13.1% increase in the adult fiction category and flat sales in adult nonfiction was enough to lift unit sales of print books up 1.3% last week over the comparable week in 2022 at outlets that report to Circana BookScan.
The double-digit gain in adult fiction came despite the lack of a new blockbuster release. The new novel by Tom Hanks, The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece, was the bestselling new release, selling more than 28,000 copies, which put it in second place on the category list. A new Netflix Bridgerton-related series, Queen Charlotte, helped Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes's tie-in edition sell almost 19,000 copies in its first week on sale. Happy Place by Emily Henry remained number one on the category list, selling over 44,000 copies.
Adult nonfiction sales stayed flat with last year, thanks in part to another good performance from Magnolia Table, Volume 3 by Joanna Gaines, which sold over 59,000 copies. The top-selling new title was Disruptive Thinking by T.D. Jakes, which sold nearly 17,000 copies, while The Daddy Diaries by Andy Cohen sold over 10,000 copies in its first week.
Sales fell in the juvenile and young adult categories. With graduation season in full swing, Oh, The Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss returned to the top of the juvenile bestseller chart, selling over 46,000 copies, but that wasn’t enough to prevent sales in the category from falling 4.6% in the week.
Wendy Loggia’s Taylor Swift: A Little Golden Book Biography sold more than 30,000 copies in its second week on sale, but total segment sales fell 5.9%.
