Unit Sales Post a Solid 9% Gain

At outlets that report to NPD BookScan, sales of print units were 9% higher in the week ended Nov. 12, 2017, than in the comparable week in 2016, with units up in all four major publishing categories. Unit sales in the adult nonfiction category were 15% higher than in the week ended Nov. 13, 2016. Three of the four top-selling books in the category were new. Topping the list was Pete Souza’s Obama: An Intimate Portrait, which sold more than 76,000 copies. Landing in second place was Inventing Joy by Joy Mangano, which sold almost 43,000, and in the fourth spot was Medical Medium Thyroid Healing, selling more than 34,000 copies. The juvenile nonfiction segment also had a good week, with units up 14% from the similar week in 2016. Harry Potter: A Journey Through a History of Magic by the British Library continued its run as #1 on the category bestseller list, with slightly more than 19,000 copies sold. Raid of No Return: Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #7 debuted in third place on the list, selling more than 6,000 copies. The latest edition in Jeff Kinney’s Wimpy Kid series, The Getaway, sold more than 230,000 copies in its first week, making it the top-selling book in the week. The book landed one week later than last year’s entry, Double Down, which sold more than 236,000 copies (more than 151,000 copies in the comparable week). Print unit sales increased 1% in the adult fiction category. The newest Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child, The Midnight Line, was #1 on the category bestseller list, selling more than 77,000 copies. The week was also another good one for the hardcover format, where units jumped 19% from the comparable week in 2016.

Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel (in thousands)

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category (in thousands)

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format (in thousands)