The Weekly Scorecard: Tracking Unit Print Sales for Week Ending February 2, 2014

Slow adult fiction sales were the most important factor in the 6% decline in unit sales in week five of 2014, compared to the week ended Feb. 3, 2013, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. Adult fiction units fell 17% in the week, the largest decline so far this year. The category suffered from weak sales at the very top of the list, and for the top 100 books:sales for the top 100 totaled 792,693 in week five of 2013, compared to 625,992 in the similar week in 2014. Danielle Steel had the bestselling adult fiction title in week five of both years, but the hardcover edition of Until the End of Time sold about 34,000 copies in the week ended Feb. 3, 2013, while the mass market paperback edition, released Jan. 28, 2014, sold about 24,000 copies in the week ended Feb. 2, 2014. Bad winter weather likely had a role in dropping unit sales. In the South Atlantic region, for example, units fell 9%, as much of the area was crippled by an ice storm. Juvenile nonfiction continued its steady 2014 performance, with units up 5% for both the week and the year to date, compared to the similar periods in 2013.

Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format

Source: Nielsen BookScan and Publishers Weekly. Nielsen BookScan’s U.S. Consumer Market Panel covers approximately 80% of the print book market and continues to grow.