Unit Sales Dropped 5.3% in Early November

Unit sales of print books fell 5.3% in the week ended Nov. 10, 2018, compared to the similar week in 2017, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Sales were down in all major categories except for young adult. The widespread decline is likely due in part to distractions caused by the midterm elections that were held on November 6. Last year at this time, there was no particular blockbuster that drove overall unit gains. The top-selling overall title in the week ended Nov. 11, 2017, was The Getaway (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #12) by Jeff Kinney, which sold more than 203,000 copies in its first week. In the week ended Nov. 10, 2018, Whose Boat Is This? by the staff of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was the #1 title, selling about 209,000 copies in its first full week out. That performance was not enough to prevent unit sales in the adult nonfiction segment from falling 4.3% compared to 2017. The segment also had another strong seller: Homebody by Joanna Gaines, which sold nearly 94,000 copies, but sales of other top titles were soft. Unit sales of adult and juvenile fiction both fell 6.7% compared to 2017. The juvenile category was affected by the debut last year of The Getaway. The #1 seller in the category this year was Kinney’s The Meltdown, which sold just under 150,000 copies in its second week. In adult fiction, the #1 seller in the most recent week was Past Tense by Lee Child, which sold almost 70,000 copies. Last year, Child’s The Midnight Line sold close to 77,000 copies. Sales of juvenile nonfiction fell 5.8% compared to 2017.

Total Sales of Print Books

(in thousands)

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category

(in thousands)

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format

(in thousands)