A 3.3% increase in juvenile fiction print unit sales in the week ended Aug. 3, 2019, compared to the similar week last year, was not enough to offset declines in the other major categories, leading to a 1.8% drop overall, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The increase in juvenile fiction sales was led by The Poison Jungle, the 13th volume in Tui T. Sutherland’s Wing’s of Fire series, which sold nearly 48,000 copies in its first week. Another new release, The Trip to the Pumpkin Farm by Rebecca Elliott, sold nearly 10,000 copies, landing it in fifth place on the category list. No new adult nonfiction book made a big splash in the week ended August 3, and as a result print unit sales fell 3.7% compared to 2018. In the week ended Aug. 4, 2018, Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis was continuing its long run of popularity, selling nearly 47,000 copies. In the most recent week, Educated by Tara Westover was #1 in the category, selling almost 19,000 copies. Print unit sales in the adult fiction category fell 2.4% compared to 2018. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens returned to the top spot on the category list, selling just over 47,000 copies—20,000 more copies than second-place One Good Deed by David Baldacci. The top-selling new title was Dark Age by Pierce Brown, which sold more than 17,000 copies. Print units in young adult fiction dropped 6% compared to 2018, when The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas was still going strong, selling about 13,000 copies. The top title in the category last week was The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, which sold just over 7,000 copies.

Total Sales of Print Books

(in thousands)

Aug. 4, 2018 Aug. 3, 2019 Chge Week Chge YTD
Total 12,193 11,977 -1.8% -1.9%

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category

(in thousands)

Aug. 4, 2018 Aug. 3, 2019 Chge Week Chge YTD
Adult Nonfiction 4,992 4,808 -3.7% -0.5%
Adult Fiction 2,790 2,723 -2.4% -4.2%
Juvenile Nonfiction 1,081 1,092 -1.5% 2.1%
Juvenile Fiction 2,621 2,708 3.3% -3.0%
Young Adult Fiction 418 393 -6.0% -2.6%
Young Adult Nonfiction 43 49 13.3% 1.9%

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format

(in thousands)

Aug. 4, 2018 Aug. 3, 2019 Chge Week Chge YTD
Hardcover 2,923 3,079 5.3% 2.7%
Trade Paperback 7,213 7,002 -2.9% -2.8%
Mass Market Paperback 1,116 938 -16.0% -15.3%
Board Books 557 551 -1.1% 1.9%
Physical Audio 37 29 -20.9% -25.2%