Units Post Modest Decline In 2009

The first sales figures for how the industry fared in 2009 are in from Nielsen BookScan, and they show a decline in unit sales, though given the severity of the recession, the drop is a modest one. Total units fell 3.3%, to 751.7 million, for the year ended January 3 at the outlets that report sales to BookScan. The BookScan figures support those in the industry who believed that in looking to save some money, consumers would opt for trade paperbacks rather than hardcovers in 2009; hardcover sales fell 3.6% in the year while trade paperback sales declined at a slower, 2.2%, rate. Trade paperbacks outsold hardcovers by a little more than two-to-one in 2009. Sales of audiobooks plunged 19% in the year, due no doubt in large part to an increase in the use of digital audio.

In terms of the major categories, 2009 was not a bad year at all for adult fiction, with units inching up 0.5%. The past year saw new novels from dozens of familiar names, with books by Dan Brown, John Grisham, and Stephenie Meyer leading the list of bestsellers in hardcover, while trade paperback bestsellers included The Time Traveler's Wife, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Olive Kitteridge.

It was a different story in nonfiction, where units were down 6.4%. Although Going Rogue was a major new hit, several bestselling 2009 titles in nonfiction were first released in 2008—including The Shack and Outliers—when they sold in high numbers. The segment also benefited last year from one of the all-time bestsellers from Oprah's book club, A New Earth, which sold over five million copies.

Children's fiction held up reasonably well in 2009 as the two top series, Twilight and Wimpy Kid, continued to be strong sellers.

To provide accurate comparisons between 2009 and 2008, Nielsen eliminated the first week of sales in the most recent year since 2009 had 53 weeks. Figures in 2009 include sales from a number of nontraditional outlets that the service first added in 2008, including Kroger, Stop & Shop, Toys R Us, and Starbucks. Nielsen estimates it captures 75% of retail book sales. Finally, the format and category titles don't add up to the total number of units in both years because the “other” segment (maps, calendars, etc.) was not included in those breakouts.

Total Unit Sales (in millions)

Sales by Category (in millions)

Sales by Format (in millions)