The Weekly Scorecard: Tracking Unit Print Sales for Week Ending September 7, 2014

Unit sales of print books rose 3% in the week ended Sept. 7, 2014, compared to the similar week last year, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. The increase was driven by the retail & club channel, where units rose 4% over the week ended Sept. 8, 2013, and offset a 4% decline in sales through mass merchandisers. Although units in adult fiction fell 4% in week 36, the rate of decline in the segment has steadily slowed throughout the year, a trend that has helped to lift overall print sales. There were a number of big fiction debuts in the week, led by Personal, the newest Jack Reacher novel from Lee Child, which sold over 70,000 copies in its first week on sale. Somewhere Great with Somebody Good, Jan Karon’s newest in the Mitford series, sold over 37,000 copies. Four of the five top-selling adult nonfiction titles made their debut in week 36, and units in the category were down slightly compared to a year ago. What if? by Randall Monroe was the #1 adult nonfiction title in the week, selling over 35,000 copies. While the adult segments had moderate declines in the week, the juvenile segments posted big gains, despite no new major books. The juvenile nonfiction category had the best performance, as three Minecraft books took the top three slots on the list.

Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format

Source: Nielsen BookScan and Publishers Weekly. Nielsen BookScan’s U.S. Consumer Market Panel covers approximately 80% of the print book market and continues to grow.