Unit Sales Flat in 2008, BookScan Shows
by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 1/7/2009 6:27:00 AM
Unit book sales were virtually flat in 2008, slipping 0.2%, to 756.1 million units, according to Nielsen BookScan which tracks about 70% of all book sales. Units rose 5% in 2007. Most of the unit gains were supplied by the juvenile segment which had a 6.2% increase. Adult fiction sales inched ahead 0.4%, while adult nonfiction units declined 3.9%. The segment still sold the most units, however, with BookScan reporting nonfiction unit sales of just under 300 million last year. Figures exclude sales through nontraditional outlets.
