Unit sales of print books rose 10.9% last week over the week ended April 25 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Units were up 4.7% over the comparable week in 2019 as well.
The two adult categories led the week’s gains driven by a big jump in sales in the adult nonfiction category. Print unit sales increased nearly 31% last week over the previous week, with numerous segments in the category posting large double-digit increases.
The religion segment had the biggest sales gain, with units jumping almost 69%. Relationship Goals and Relationship Goals Study Guide by Michael Todd combined to sell about 55,000 print copies in their first week on sale. The health/fitness/medicine/sports and cooking/entertaining segments had sales increases in the week of 42.3% and 41.5%, respectively.
Unit sales in adult fiction increased 13.5% over the previous week. The religion segment had a huge increase here as well, with sales up 42.6%; Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers was #1 in the segment. Sales of graphic novels rose nearly 43%.
Juvenile nonfiction sales declined 11.6% last week, and juvenile fiction sales fell 6.9%. Both categories suffered from soft sales in the holidays/festivals/religion segment.
Through May 2, unit sales of print books at stores that report to BookScan were down 2.2% from the comparable period in 2019.
