Unit sales of print books fell 5% in the week ended July 17, 2016, compared to the similar week last year, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. The drop was largely due to the 19% decline in adult fiction, compared to the week ended July 19, 2015, when Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman sold almost 747,000 print copies in its first week. (The huge first-week sales of Watchman last year also had a negative impact on comparisons for hardcover sales, which fell 18%.) The two top-selling adult fiction books in week 28 of 2016 were The Black Widow by Daniel Silva and the trade paperback edition of The Girl of the Train by Paula Hawkins, which sold 51,000 and 50,000 copies, respectively. While adult fiction struggled in the week, adult nonfiction had a 7% increase in unit sales. The category benefited from another solid week for Ellie Wiesel’s Night, which sold more than 18,000 copies, making it the #1 seller in adult nonfiction. Jacyee Dugard’s new book, Freedom, sold more than 11,000 copies in its first week, putting it in fifth place on the adult nonfiction bestsellers list. Unit sales in juvenile fiction had a small decline in the week, even though two new titles had a good debut: Chris Colfer’s The Land of Stories was #1 in the category, selling more than 28,000 copies, while Robert Beatty’s Serafina and the Twisted Staff sold more than 19,000 copies, putting it at #2.

Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel

Jul. 19, 2015 Jul. 17, 2016* Chge Week Chge YTD
Total 12,528 11,956 -5% 5%
Mass Merch./Other 1,882 1,620 -14% -5%
Retail & Club 10,647 10,337 -3% 7%

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category

Jul. 19, 2015 Jul. 17, 2016* Chge Week Chge YTD
Adult Nonfiction 4,353 4,646 7% 11%
Adult Fiction 3,788 3,058 -19% -2%
Juvenile Nonfiction 1,006 1,002 -0.4% 8%
Juvenile Fiction 2,942 2,881 -2% 2%

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format

Jul. 19, 2015 Jul. 17, 2016* Chge Week Chge YTD
Hardcover 3,447 2,834 -18% 5%
Trade Paperback 6,963 7,128 2% 7%
Mass Market Paperback 1,323 1,227 -8% -8%
Board Books 481 463 -4% 11%
Audio 97 72 -26% -14%