Unit sales of print books fell 2.2% in the week ended Feb. 16, 2019, compared to the similar week in 2018, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The biggest decline came in adult fiction, where units were down 8.4% from the week ended Feb. 17, 2018. As has been true for most of the year, the weakness in fiction appears to be due to soft sales of midlist titles rather than of books at the top of the bestseller lists. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens was #1 in fiction in the most recent week and sold almost 27,000 copies. Last year at this time, Kristin Hannah’s The Great Alone was #1 in adult fiction, selling about 28,000 copies. The highest-ranking new book on the category list was Juror #3 by James Patterson and Nancy Allen, which sold almost 11,000 copies in trade paperback, putting it at #5 on the adult fiction list. Sales in adult nonfiction were just about flat in the week ended Feb. 16, 2019, compared to the similar week last year. In mid-February 2018, Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury was still #1 on the nonfiction list, but sales had cooled to just over 27,000 copies in the week ended Feb. 17, 2018. In the most recent week this year, Michelle Obama’s Becoming remained #1, selling more than 59,000 copies, and a new title, Grateful American by Gary Sinise, landed in second place on the category list, selling more than 31,000 copies. Print units in juvenile fiction slipped 2.2% compared to 2018. Dav Pilkey’s Brawl of the Wild (Dog Man #6) remained in the top spot on the category list, selling more than 35,000 copies.

Total Sales of Print Books

(in thousands)

Feb. 17, 2019 Feb. 16, 2018 Chge Week Chge YTD
Total 12,811 12,523 -2.2% -3.8%

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category

(in thousands)

Feb. 17, 2019 Feb. 16, 2018 Chge Week Chge YTD
Adult Nonfiction 5,220 5,235 0.1% -5.3%
Adult Fiction 2,384 2,183 -8.4% -7.5%
Juvenile Nonfiction 1,045 1,049 0.4% 2.6%
Juvenile Fiction 3,492 3,414 -2.2% 3.7%
Young Adult Fiction 350 340 -2.7% -0.6%
Young Adult Nonfiction 39 38 -1.3% 3.3%

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format

(in thousands)

Feb. 17, 2019 Feb. 16, 2018 Chge Week Chge YTD
Hardcover 3,427 3,566 4.1% -0.6%
Trade Paperback 6,994 6,638 -5.1% -4.7%
Mass Market Paperback 934 803 -14.0% -14.6%
Board Books 1,027 1,069 4.1% 15.1%
Audio 47 34 -26.8% -28.2%