Print Units Fell 3% in the First Week of May

Unit sales of print books fell 3% in the week ended May 6, 2018, compared to the similar week in 2017, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. All four publishing categories had declines compared to the week ended May 7, 2017. The biggest unit drop was in the adult fiction category, where units fell 9%. Sales of the top 100 bestsellers were soft, with units down 22% from the similar week a year ago. The #1 adult fiction book was The 17th Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro, which sold more than 39,000 copies. Last year at this time, the duo’s The 16th Seduction was #1, with more than 47,000 copies sold. Unit sales in juvenile nonfiction dropped 4% in the week ended May 6, 2018, compared to the similar week last year. Robert Priddy’s First 100 Words remained #1 on the category bestseller list. Sales in the juvenile fiction segment fell 2%, despite the category having three of the four bestselling books last week. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss was the top title in the country, selling more than 116,000 copies. The Trials of Apollo Book Three by Rick Riordan sold almost 53,000 copies in its first week and was #3 on the overall list, and A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Mass was in fourth place, with more than 51,000 copies sold in its first week. Unit sales in adult nonfiction fell 1% compared to 2017. Magnolia Table by Joanna Gaines was the category’s top seller, with more than 90,000 copies sold, while the new trade paperback edition of J.D. Vance’s popular Hillbilly Elegy landed in third place, with nearly 17,000 copies sold.

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category (in thousands)

Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel (in thousands)

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format (in thousands)