Units Jumped 20.2% in Easter Week

The final week before Easter proved to be a boon for juvenile publishing, with sales in the nonfiction category rising 80.8% over the week ended Apr. 21, 2018, while fiction sales jumped 67.1%. As a result, total print unit sales increased 20.2% in the week ended Apr. 20, 2019 over the comparable week a year ago, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The nonfiction segment was led by Easter Eggstravaganza: Mad Libs by Roger Price, which sold more than 18,000 copies. We Are the Gardeners by Joanna Gaines was a close second, selling nearly 18,000 copies. In juvenile fiction, the #1 title in the week was Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid by Jeff Kinney, which sold almost 119,000 copies. Little Blue Truck’s Springtime by Alice Schertle was a distant second, selling nearly 40,000 copies. Unit sales in adult fiction rose 1.2% over 2018, helped by two new releases: The Mister by E.L. James was the category’s top title, selling more than 68,000 copies, while David Baldacci’s Redemption was in second place on the category list, selling nearly 53,000 copies. With Easter week now over, comparisons of 2019 to 2018 will be more meaningful, since both years’ totals include results from the holiday. That being the case, total print unit sales through April 20, 2019, decreased 3.7% compared to the same period in 2018. Sales were down in every category except in young adult nonfiction, where units were flat. By format, hardcover and board book sales were up slightly, but trade paperback sales were down 5.6%.

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