The Weekly Scorecard: Tracking Unit Print Sales for Week Ending March 22, 2015

Unit sales of print books fell 1% in the week ended March 22, 2015, compared to week 12 of 2014 at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. The decline came entirely in the mass merchandiser channel, where units dropped 15% compared to the week ended March 23, 2014. Juvenile fiction was the only one of the four subject categories to post a decline in the week, with sales falling 8%. The segment is now facing extremely difficult comparisons with last year’s Divergent trilogy. In week 12 of 2014 the three Divergent books held the three top spots on the juvenile fiction list and sold a combined 201,000 copies. The first three titles in week 12 of 2015 sold a combined 43,000, topped by John Green’s Paper Towns, which sold just under 20,000 copies. The juvenile nonfiction segment had a 14% increase in the week, aided by two Johanna Brasford titles that shot up the list: Secret Garden sold about 6,500 copies and Enchanted Forest sold approximately 6,000 copies. Two books that just hit the top 10 list in adult nonfiction contributed to a 2% increase in the week. Mr. Food Test Kitchen Guilt-Free Weeknight Favorites sold about 28,000 copies in its first week on sale, putting it in second place on the list, while Pioneer Girl, the annotated Laura Ingalls Wilder memoir published by the South Dakota Historical Society Press, sold almost 19,000 copies, making it #4.

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.