Unit Sales Flat in First Week of August

Unit sales of print books were relatively flat in the week ended Aug. 5, 2018, compared to the similar week in 2017, falling 0.2% at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. With the exception of juvenile nonfiction, the major categories had a 1% or smaller change in sales compared to the week ended Aug. 6, 2017. The 5% increase in unit sales in juvenile nonfiction was once again due to getting-ready-for-school titles. The top six bestsellers in the category remained the same as the prior week, led by Big Pre-school Workbook, which sold nearly 11,000 copies, and Everything You Need to Ace Math, which sold more than 9,000 copies. Unit sales inched up 0.5% in the juvenile fiction category over 2017. Even in this segment, back-to-school titles were prominent. Among the bestsellers were The Night Before Kindergarten by Natasha Wing, which sold just over 8,500 copies, and Julie Danneberg’s First Day Jitters, which sold almost 8,000 copies. Print unit sales fell by less than 1% in the adult nonfiction category. The Russia Hoax by Gregg Jarrett remained #1 on the category bestseller list, selling more than 31,000 copies. Two political humor books cracked the top 10 in their first week: Greg Gutfeld’s The Gutfeld Monologues was #7, selling more than 13,000 copies, while The Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Library by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and Jon Meacham was #8, with just under 13,000 copies sold. Unit sales fell 1% in adult fiction, where two mass market paperbacks had the strongest debuts: Dark in Death by J.D. Robb was #4, selling more than 16,000 copies, followed by Lisa Jackson’s You Will Pay, which sold more than 15,000 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)