The Weekly Scorecard: Tracking Unit Print Sales for Week Ending October 19, 2014

Unit sales of print books rose 8% for the week ended Oct. 19, 2014, compared to the similar week in 2013, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. While retail & club has had the strongest year among the various channels tracked, in week 42 it was the mass merchandiser channel that posted the biggest gains, with unit sales up 11%. For the second week in a row, adult fiction sales were up, increasing 3% over the week ended Oct. 13, 2013. Once again, Gone Girl drove sales, as the three editions of the novel (which were in the first, second, and fourth spots) combined to sell over 123,000 units. The highest-ranking new title was Leaving Time, which landed at #3, with just over 37,000 units sold. Two new titles helped to increase adult nonfiction sales by 8% in the week, although Killing Patton remained #1 with almost 68,000 copies sold. The biggest debut was Rise of Isis, which sold just under 20,000 copies, putting the book at #3 in adult nonfiction. There were no surprises in juvenile nonfiction, where the Minecraft titles continue to be major hits; the four Scholastic editions combined to sell about 70,000 copies.

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.