Paper Book Sales Decline Slightly

According to Publishers Weekly, unit sales of print books fell 5.5% last week, with no big books hitting shelves that week. The adult nonfiction and fiction categories were the hardest hit, with a decline of about 8% last week. The only major publishing category that increased in sales was juvenile nonfiction, which had a 0.5% gain. Some other genres also saw an increase in sales, such as social situations/family/health, which were up 41.7%, and biographies/autobiographies, ahead 24%, while there was also some smaller declines in the bigger subgenre areas of education/reference/language, games/activities/hobbies, and history/sports/people/places.   Sales are expected to rise …

Camila Fagen –

According to Publishers Weekly, unit sales of print books fell 5.5% last week, with no big books hitting shelves that week.

The adult nonfiction and fiction categories were the hardest hit, with a decline of about 8% last week. The only major publishing category that increased in sales was juvenile nonfiction, which had a 0.5% gain. Some other genres also saw an increase in sales, such as social situations/family/health, which were up 41.7%, and biographies/autobiographies, ahead 24%, while there was also some smaller declines in the bigger subgenre areas of education/reference/language, games/activities/hobbies, and history/sports/people/places.

 

Sales are expected to rise in the next quarter as holiday shopping season approaches. This season is also crucial for independent bookstores as they make most of their revenue during this season. Booksellers are encouraging to start holiday shopping early this year due to printing shortages.

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