Print book sales have shown healthy weekly gains since the Thanksgiving weekend though the pace is slightly below that of the 2011 holiday season at outlets tracked by Nielsen BookScan. Total units for the week ended December 16, 2012 increased 23% over the prior week compared to a 26% increase between the weeks ended December 18 and 11 in 2011. For the week ended December 9, 2012, units were up 15% over the prior week, while units rose 25% in the week ended December 2. In the same two week in 2011, sales rose 20% and 29%, respectively.

Total units were higher in 2012 than in 2011 in the weeks ended November 25 and December 2, but were lower in the two most recent weeks. For the week ended December 16, total print units sold at BookScan outlets were just over 22 million, down 6% from the same week in 2011. Outlets that report to BookScan account for about 75% of all print unit sales.