Juvenile Nonfiction Stays Hot, Up 10% in Week

At outlets that report to NPD BookScan, total unit sales of print books were 3% higher in the week ended June 11, 2017, than in the comparable week in 2016, with the juvenile nonfiction segment posting a second consecutive week of double-digit sales gains. Units in the juvenile nonfiction segment were 10% higher than in the week ended June 12, 2016; She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton remained in the top spot on the category bestseller list, selling almost 18,000 copies. Last year at this time, First 100 Words by Roger Priddy was #1, selling more than 8,000 copies. Overall, unit sales of the top 100 bestsellers in the category in 2017 were about 19% higher than the 100 top sellers a year ago. Unit sales in both the adult nonfiction and juvenile fiction categories were 4% higher than in the comparable week in 2016. Adult nonfiction received a boost from Kevin Hart’s just-released title, I Can’t Make This Up, which sold more than 27,000 copies in its first week to become #1 on the category bestseller list. Another new book on the top-10 list was Bill O’Reilly’s Legends and Lies: The Civil War by Steve Fisher, which was #8 on the category list, selling more than 13,000 copies. The gain in juvenile fiction was due in part to another solid week of sales for Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss, which remained #1 on the juvenile fiction bestseller list with more than 46,000 copies sold. The Misadventures of Max Crumbly 2 by Rachel Renée Russell landed in the fourth spot on the category bestseller list, selling nearly 10,000 copies. The week’s unit sales in the adult fiction segment were 1% lower than in 2016, despite a solid first-week performance by John Grisham’s newest novel, Camino Island, which sold almost 122,000 copies.

Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel (in thousands)

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category (in thousands)

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format (in thousands)