Unit Sales Slump in Mid-July

With print-unit sales falling in all four major categories, total sales in the week ended July 15, 2018, were down 5% compared to the similar week in 2017, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The largest decline came in juvenile fiction, where units dropped 7% compared to the week ended July 16, 2017. Within the category, young adult sales were relatively flat year over year but sales of the top 100 bestselling juvenile fiction books fell 22%. The top-selling title in the category in the week ended July 16, 2017, was Chris Colfer’s The Land of Stories, which sold nearly 36,000 copies. In the most recent week, the top seller was Robert Beatty’s Willa of the Wood, which sold just over 16,000 copies in its first week. Adult fiction had another tough week, with unit sales falling 6%. Sales of the week’s top 100 category bestsellers were 7% lower in 2018 compared to 2017. The President Is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson was again #1 in the category, selling nearly 37,000 copies. During the week ended July 16, 2017, House of Spies by Daniel Silva was #1, selling almost 47,000 copies. Print unit sales in juvenile nonfiction fell 5%, with sales of the top 100 titles falling 9%. Everything You Need to Ace Math was #1, selling over 9,000 copies. Adult nonfiction print units dropped 4% compared to 2017. The category had a new #1 bestseller: Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis moved up from #4 in the prior week, selling more than 23,000 copies. Sales of physical audio have been declining all year, and the week ended July 15 was the format’s worst of 2018, with units down 42% compared to a year ago.

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)