The Weekly Scorecard: Tracking Unit Print Sales for Week Ending July 27, 2014

Unit sales of print books rose 5% for the week ended July 27, 2014, compared to the similar week last year, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. This was the third consecutive week that unit sales posted a year-over-year gain, and units through July 27 were up 1% over the first seven months of 2013. There were no blockbuster new releases in week 30, with two titles by fiction stars having the strongest debuts. A Perfect Life by Danielle Steel sold over 30,000 copies in its first week on sale, landing it in fourth place on the overall bestsellers list, while Tom Clancy: Support and Defend by Mark Greaney sold over 21,000 copies. Greaney was a collaborator with Clancy before the bestselling author died last October, and Support and Defend, which was #9 on the overall bestsellers list, is the first Clancy book with Greaney credited as the sole author. The juvenile fiction category had the strongest performance in the week, with sales up 16%, even as the two top sellers in the category posted week-over-week sales declines. With more than 48,000 copies sold, Four was the #1 juvenile fiction bestseller in week 30, despite a 25% sales decline from the prior week. The Fault in Our Stars came in second with 47,000 copies of trade paperback units sold, but that was down 13% from week 29.

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.