The Weekly Scorecard: Tracking Unit Print Sales for Week Ending October 12, 2014

Unit sales of print books rose 5% in the week ended Oct. 12, 2014, compared to the similar week last year, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. Two categories in particular had noteworthy performances: in the juvenile nonfiction segment, unit sales jumped 42% over week 41 of 2013; and in adult fiction, where year-over-year sales have been down for most of 2014, units were up 6%. The gains in juvenile nonfiction occurred even though sales of Minecraft books cooled a bit. Still, Minecraft: Construction Handbook sold about 40,000 copies in the week, more than 10 times the sales of the top-selling juvenile nonfiction title in the week ended Oct. 13, 2013. Combined sales of the 100 bestselling juvenile nonfiction titles in week 41 of 2014 soared 84% over those of the 100 top sellers in the similar week last year. In adult fiction, three editions of Gone Girl held the top three spots, selling a total of about 162,000 copies in the week ended Oct. 12, 2014—a 57% increase over the three top-selling fiction titles in week 41 of 2013. Growth in the juvenile fiction segment slowed, though it had the overall bestselling title in the week: Rick Riordan’s The Blood of Olympus sold over 162,000 copies in its debut week.

Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format

Source: Nielsen BookScan and Publishers Weekly. Nielsen BookScan’s U.S. Consumer Market Panel covers approximately 80% of the print book market and continues to grow.