With No Easter Sales, Juvenile Book Sales Tumble: The Weekly Scorecard

Last year’s early Easter, which took place on March 27, caused havoc with book sales comparisons with the week ended Mar. 26, 2017. Unit sales of print books fell 12% in the week at outlets that report to NPD BookScan, compared to Easter week of 2016. With Easter not taking place until April 16 this year, unit sales through the mass merchandiser channel plunged 47%, and unit sales in the juvenile fiction and nonfiction segments tumbled 30% each. Unit sales of board books dropped 38% from last year. In the week ended Mar. 27, 2016, five Easter-related books were among the top-10 bestselling juvenile fiction titles, led by Happy Easter Mouse! by Laura Joffe Numeroff, which was #1 on the segment list and sold more than 28,000 copies. This year, the top seller in juvenile fiction was Too Many Carrots by Katy Hudson, which sold more than 19,000 copies. In juvenile nonfiction last year, five Easter-related books were also in the top-10 bestsellers for the week. In the #1 spot was The Story of Easter by Patricia Pingry, which sold more than 20,000 copies. This year, First 100 Words by Roger Priddy topped the category bestseller chart, selling more than 8,000 copies. Easter doesn’t have quite the same impact on adult sales as it does on juvenile sales, and the adult fiction and nonfiction segments had small declines in the week ended March 26. The top adult fiction title in the most recent week was Mississippi Blood by Greg Iles, which sold more than 26,000 copies in its first week. In adult nonfiction, Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur stayed at #1, selling almost 20,000 copies.

Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel

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Unit Sales of Print Books by Category

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Unit Sales of Print Books by Format

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