The Weekly Scorecard: Tracking Unit Print Sales for Week Ending March 20, 2016

Unit sales of print books rose 9% in the week ended Mar. 20, 2016, compared to the similar week in 2015, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. Since some grocery chain retailers were unable to report sales for the week, total sales and sales through the mass merchandiser channel skewed lower than normal. The absence of data from the grocers also had a significant negative effect on sales reporting of mass market paperbacks, since that format is popular at those stores. With Easter coming up on March 27, the juvenile categories had a strong sales week: unit sales in juvenile nonfiction were up 24% over the similar week in 2015, and fiction sales were ahead 14%. Four Easter books and two religion titles were among the top 10 titles in juvenile nonfiction. Patricia Pingry landed two books on the bestsellers list, in the fourth and fifth spots. Her Story of Easter and The Easter Story sold about 11,500 and 8,000 copies, respectively, in the week. In juvenile fiction, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs jumped up to first place, selling more than 20,000 copies. Happy Easter, Mouse by Laura Joffe Numeroff sold more than 18,000 copies in the week and Peppa’s Easter Egg Hunt sold more than 12,000 copies, putting them in third and seventh place, respectively, on the juvenile fiction bestsellers list. Unit sales in adult fiction fell 5% compared to the week ended Mar. 22, 2015, although two new hardcovers by bestselling authors headed the category bestsellers list. Private Paris by James Patterson and Mark Sullivan was #1, selling more than 30,000 copies, and Danielle Steel’s Property of a Noble Woman was #2, selling more than 24,000 copies.

Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel

**Several grocery chain retailers were not able to report sales for the week ended Mar. 20, 2016.

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format