The Weekly Scorecard: Tracking Unit Print Sales for Week Ending November 9, 2014

Unit sales of print books fell 2% in the week ended Nov. 9, 2014, compared to the similar week last year, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. The decline was the first time this fall that year-over-year unit sales fell. Three of the four major book segments had a decline in the week, including juvenile fiction, where sales dropped 2% compared to the week ended Nov. 10, 2013. The drop in juvenile fiction occurred despite a strong debut by The Long Haul, the latest in Jeff Kinney’s Wimpy Kid series, which sold almost 319,000 copies in its debut week. First-week sales of Long Haul, however, were 17% below those of Hard Luck, the previous title in the Wimpy series, which sold about 384,000 copies in its first seven days. Units in the adult fiction category fell 5% compared to the week 45 of 2013. There was no huge new hit in the week; Michael Connelly’s The Burning Room was the top debut, selling more than 37,000 copies. John Grisham’s Gray Mountain was the top fiction title, selling more than 55,000 copies. Meanwhile, adult nonfiction sales were just about flat. Ina Garten’s Make It Ahead was the top title in the category, selling just over 53,000 copies, down 60% from its strong showing a week earlier. Minecraft titles led the juvenile nonfiction gains once again, though sales of Elf on the Shelf had a big bump with over 10,000 copies sold in the 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.