The Weekly Scorecard: Tracking Unit Print Sales for Week Ending October 26, 2014

Unit sales of print books rose 2% in the week ended Oct. 26, 2014, compared to the similar week in 2013, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. The increase came despite a rare occurrence this year—a decline in juvenile fiction sales. For week 43 of 2014, juvenile nonfiction sales fell 1% compared to the week ended Oct. 27, 2013, as no new book had a strong debut in the week. The biggest-selling new title in the category, Blue Lily, Lily Blue, sold just under 5,000 copies, good enough only for 52nd place on the juvenile fiction list. The Blood of Olympus remained the top title in the category, selling about 30,000 copies, a drop of 43% from week 42. Despite the sales dip in the week, unit sales for juvenile fiction were up 14% in the year to date. The adult fiction category helped to offset the juvenile fiction decline. Led by John Grisham’s Gray Mountain, which sold more than 122,000 copies in its first week on sale, units rose 2%. The adult nonfiction segment had a solid gain of 4% in the week, as Killing Patton continued to post big numbers, selling just under 61,000 copies in the week. Juvenile nonfiction had the biggest gain in the week, as Minecraft: The Complete Handbook joined four other Minecraft titles atop the category’s bestsellers list.

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.