Unit sales of print books dipped 0.5% in February compared to February 2023, Circana BookScan reported. Sales posted small increases in the first and last week of the month, sandwiched around small declines in the middle of February.
The month’s bestselling book at outlets that report to BookScan was The Women by Kristin Hannah, which sold almost 291,000 copies in February. Women authors did very well in the month, taking nine of the 10 bestseller slots across all categories. Laura Nowlin's If Only I Had Told Her and Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses rounded out the top three. James Clear was the only male author to crack the top 10 with Atomic Habits selling more than 89,000 copies.
Though sales slipped in February compared to a year ago, they were up 3% over January. All major categories with the exception of adult nonfiction rose in February over January led by various children’s segments such as holiday topics and activity books, as well as bestsellers like Wendy Loggia's Taylor Swift: A Little Golden Book Biography, Wave Rider by Kazu Kibuishi, and Jeff Kinney’s No Brainer.
The 0.5% February decline from a year ago was a marked improvement over January, when sales fell 6% compared to the first month of 2023. After the first two months of 2024, unit sales were down 4% from the comparable period last year at outlets that report to BookScan.
