Publishers Weekly Reports Unit Sales of Print Books Up 7.7% in Mid-May
Print this Article | Send to Colleague
Publishers Weekly reports unit sales of print books rose 7.7% in the week ended May 16, 2020, over the comparable period in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Strong sales in both juvenile categories and a solid performance by the adult fiction category drove the gains.
Units jumped 30.6% in juvenile nonfiction over the week ended May 18, 2019. The gain was led by continued strong sales of titles parents can use to teach their children at home; My First Learn-to-Write Workbook by Crystal Radke stayed in the top spot on the category list, selling 18,000 copies, followed by Big Preschool, which sold more than 11,000 copies.
The 15.6% increase in unit sales in juvenile fiction was due to strength throughout the category, not because of a hot top seller.
Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss remained in the top spot on the juvenile fiction list, selling more than 31,000 copies. Last year at this time, the book sold about 52,000 copies.
The 13.3% increase in adult fiction was also due to strength throughout the category. The top-selling title was Camino Winds by John Grisham, which sold nearly 36,000 copies, just slightly under the 38,000 copies that Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens sold at this time last year. In the week ended May 18, 2019, The 18th Abduction by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro was #2 on the list and sold 19,000 copies; this year four titles beat that number. At #2 in the week ended May 16, 2020, was Crawdads, which sold almost 34,000 copies.
Print unit sales dipped 0.4% in adult nonfiction as Magnolia Table, Vol. 2 by Joanna Gaines fell from the top spot in the category to #3, selling about 30,000 copies.
