The Weekly Scorecard: Tracking Unit Print Sales for Week Ending August 2, 2015

Unit sales of print books rose 4% in the week ended Aug. 2, 2015, compared to the similar week in 2014, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. Three of the four categories posted a sales increase in the week, while sales in the juvenile fiction segment were flat compared to week 31 of 2014. The flat unit performance in juvenile fiction came despite strong sales for What Pet Should I Get?, the recently discovered book by Dr. Seuss. The title sold more than 151,000 copies at BookScan outlets, easily taking the top spot on the juvenile fiction list, where John Green’s Paper Towns came in second, selling more than 41,000 copies. Sales in juvenile nonfiction rose 14% in the week, led once again by Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden, which sold more than 21,000 copies. Several new Minecraft titles also landed high on the juvenile nonfiction list. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee continued to give a boost to adult fiction sales, which were up 5%. The title sold more than 126,000 copies last week. The strongest debut was Sandra Brown’s Mean Streak, which sold more than 28,000 copies in its first week, putting it in third place on the adult fiction list. Unit sales rose 3% in adult nonfiction, as Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up continued to roll on, selling more than 28,000 copies in the week, putting it in the top spot on the adult nonfiction list.

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.