The Weekly Scorecard: Tracking Unit Print Sales for Week Ending October 4, 2015

Unit sales of print books inched up 0.5% in the week ended Oct. 4, 2015, compared to the similar period last year, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. The small increase was driven by gains in the two nonfiction segments, which offset declines in fiction. In adult nonfiction, units rose 12% despite the absence of hot debuts. The two top-selling new titles were In This Together by Ann Romney and The 20/20 Diet by Phil McGraw, which sold more than 9,000 copies each in the week, putting the books at #7 and #8, respectively, on the adult nonfiction list. Killing Reagan by Bill O’Reilly remained on top of the list, selling more than 86,000 copies. The 3% increase in juvenile nonfiction sales in the week was led by a familiar group: Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest and First 100 Words by Roger Priddy, which, once again, claimed the top three spots in the category. In an ironic twist, the adult fiction category had one of its worst weekly performances in recent months, despite lots of new books hitting the list. The hardcover edition of The Murder House by James Patterson was the #1 adult fiction title, though it sold a relatively modest 46,000 copies in its first week. In what was a bad week for mass market paperbacks, several new mass market titles nevertheless landed high on the adult fiction list, led by Willow Brook Road by Sherryl Woods, which sold more than 24,000 copies, putting it at #3 on the adult fiction bestseller list. With units off 4% in juvenile fiction in the week, Ransom Riggs’s Library of Souls was the top title, selling more than 21,000 copies.

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.