Unit Sales Soft in Mid-July, Dropping 4.1%

With all categories posting declines, overall unit sales of print books fell 4.1% in the week ended July 20, 2019, compared to the similar week in 2018, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Sales in adult fiction dropped 5.5% compared to the week ended July 21, 2018, despite strong showings from three new books. The New Girl by Daniel Silva was the #1 title in the category, selling more than 59,000 copies in its first week. The Adventure Zone by Clint McElroy landed in the third spot, with 40,000 copies sold, followed by The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, which sold 39,000 copies. Units fell 2.8% in adult nonfiction compared to 2018. Educated by Tara Westover remained #1 in the category, selling nearly 20,000 copies. American Carnage by Tim Alberta debuted at #3 in the category, selling almost 13,000 copies. Last year at this time, Liars, Leakers and Liberals by Jeanine Pirro was #1 in adult nonfiction, selling more than 34,000 copies. Sales

continued to be sluggish in juvenile fiction last week, with print units falling 5.1%. The Pigeon Has to Go to School by Mo Willems was the top title in the category, selling just over 13,000 copies,

followed by Jeff Kinney’s Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid, which sold just under 13,000 copies. Juvenile nonfiction, which has posted small gains for most of the year, had a 2.4% decline last week. Everything You Need to Ace Math in One Big Fat Notebook, published by Workman, was the top title, selling more than 8,000 copies. Three more Everything You Need titles were also on the category top 10 list, selling about 20,000 copies combined.

Total Sales of Print Books

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Unit Sales of Print Books by category

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Unit Sales of Print Books by format

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