The Weekly Scorecard: Tracking Unit Print Sales for Week Ending July 31, 2016

Unit sales of print books slipped 1% in the week ended July 31, 2016, compared to the similar week last year, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. As has been the case in recent weeks, sales through the mass merchandiser channel fell, offsetting a modest rise in sales through the retail and club sales avenue. As a result of a steady weekly decline, sales through the mass merchandiser channel were down 5% in the Jan. 1–July 31, 2016, period, compared to the first seven months of 2015. During the same period, unit sales at retailers and clubs were up 6%. Following another recent trend, adult nonfiction had the best sales performance among the four categories Nielsen tracks. Units rose 5% over the week ended Aug. 2, 2015, as two books critical of Hillary Clinton ran one-two atop the segment bestsellers list. Crisis of Character by Gary Byrne was #1, selling almost 22,000 copies, while Hillary’s America by Dinesh D’Souza was in second place, with just under 21,500 copies sold. Unit sales in the juvenile nonfiction category inched ahead by less than 1% over 2015. One of the hottest titles in the segment was Pokémon Deluxe Essential Handbook, which sold more than 6,100 copies, moving up to second place on the category bestsellers list, from sixth in the previous week. The juvenile fiction segment had the biggest decline in the week with units off 6%. During the week ended Aug. 2, 2015, the recently discovered and just-released What Pet Should I Get? by Dr. Seuss sold about 152,000 copies. In the comparable week in 2016, the #1 juvenile fiction book, Gravity Falls by Alex Hirsch, sold just over 33,000 copies.

Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel

Unit Sales of Print Books by Category

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format

*Totals for 2016 include units sold through Family Christian Stores. No sales through Family Christian are included in 2015.