Unit Sales Had Small Gain in Early June

Good performances by the nonfiction segment offset softness in fiction in the week ended June 8, 2019, leading to a small gain in print unit sales over the comparable week in 2018 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Unit sales of adult nonfiction rose 6.1% over the week ended June 9, 2018, despite the lack of hot new titles. The top new book was Michael Wolff’s Siege, which sold just under 18,000 copies, putting it in fifth place on the category bestseller list. Scribner’s edition of The Mueller Report continues to have legs, selling 22,000 copies in the week, putting it in second place behind Unfreedom of the Press by Mark Levin, which sold more than 30,000 copies. Unit sales of print books rose 4% in juvenile nonfiction, where the nine top-selling titles were tied to summertime instructional activities. Adult fiction sales fell 7.8% in the week, due in part to tough comparisons to last year at this time, when The President Is Missing by James Patterson and Bill Clinton sold more than 153,000 copies in its first week. This year, no book was able to dislodge Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens from the top spot on the adult list, where it has been for five straight weeks. The top new release was Unsolved by James Patterson and David Ellis, which sold more than 25,000 copies, placing it at #2, trailed by City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert, which sold nearly 24,000 copies. Juvenile fiction sales slipped 3.8% compared to 2018. Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss was the #1 title in the category, with sales of more than 35,000 copies.

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