Book Units Rose 22% in Easter Week

The last week before Easter proved to be a great one for publishers, with print unit sales in the week ended Apr. 1, 2018, jumping 22% over the comparable week in 2017, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Similar to the prior week, sales of board books drove the gains, with unit sales of the format soaring 87% over the week ended Apr. 2, 2017. Easter week also was good to mass merchandisers, whose unit sales jumped 84%. The juvenile nonfiction category had the biggest gain in the week, with unit sales up 55%. Board books held all 10 spots on the category bestseller list. Baby Touch and Feel: Animals remained in the top spot on the list, selling more than 17,000 copies, followed by My First Read and Learn Bible, which sold more than 14,000 copies. The juvenile fiction segment also had an outstanding week, with units rising 51%. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle stayed on top of the category list, selling more than 34,000 copies. The rest of the top-10 bestseller list had a mix of Easter-related books, including Llama Llama Easter Egg by Anna Dewdney, which was #3 on the category list, selling almost 23,000 copies. Unit sales rose 6% in adult nonfiction over 2017. Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life returned to the #1 slot on the category list, selling about 27,000 copies. The newest book by Lysa TerKeurst, Embraced: 100 Devotions to Know God Is Holding You Close, was in the second spot, selling more than 17,000 copies. Adult fiction sales rose 3%, led by Red Alert by James Patterson and Marshall Karp, which sold more than 23,000 units in its first week.

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)

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