Page 8 - Publishers_Weekly

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Nonfiction Categories UNIT SALES BY CATEGORY
(in thousands)
2016 2017 CHANGE
Continue to Grow Adult Nonfiction 9,305 7,802 -16%
Art/Architecture/Design/Photography
Biography/Autobiography/Memoir 23,133 23,098 0%
Print units in juvenile nonfiction were Business/Economics 18,047 19,374 7%
Cooking/Entertaining 16,471 17,803 8%
nearly 8% higher in 2017 than in 2016 Computers 3,808 3,648 -4%
Crafts/Hobbies/Antiques/Games 20,326 14,497 -29%
Health/Fitness/Medicine/Sports 21,694 22,780 5%
History/Law/Political Science 17,883 20,134 13%
House & Home/Gardening 2,945 2,385 -19%
igures from NPD BookScan show that publishing’s Humor 4,488 4,581 2%
two nonfiction segments posted the largest unit sales Performing Arts 9,362 9,548 2%
increases in 2017, offsetting a decline in adult fiction Reference 34,310 38,306 12%
Religion/Bibles 40,637 41,341 2%
Fand a small gain in juvenile fiction.
Self-Help 12,865 15,120 18%
The juvenile nonfiction category increased the most of any Travel 7,585 7,476 -1%
segment in the year (8%), led by the biographies/autobiog- General Nonfiction 30,729 33,680 10%
raphies subcategory, in which units were up 26% from 2016. Total 273,589 281,573 3%
Two books about smart women were instrumental: Women in
Adult Fiction
Science topped the subcategory list with 128,000 copies sold, Classics 8,083 8,605 6%
and the children’s edition of Hidden Figures was second, with Fantasy 6,537 7,464 14%
approximately 115,000 copies sold. In the social situations/ Graphic Novels 11,938 11,328 -5%
Mystery/Detective 11,225 12,099 8%
family/health subcategory, which saw a 22% increase from
Occult/Psychological/Horror 2,369 2,880 22%
2016, were more strong women: She Persisted, which sold about
Religion 4,739 4,356 -8%
250,000 copies, was the #1 title, followed by two American Romance 24,989 21,492 -14%
Girl titles that together sold more than 280,000 copies. The Science Fiction 5,319 5,145 -3%
12% gain in the education/reference/language segment was Suspense/Thrillers 21,901 21,839 0%
Westerns 1,983 1,852 -7%
driven in part by The Pokémon Essential Handbook, which sold
General Fiction 39,492 40,590 3%
more than 260,000 copies.
Total 140,221 139,184 -1%
In adult nonfiction, unit sales rose 3%, overcoming the sig-
nificant drop in sales of adult coloring books that led to big Juvenile Nonfiction
Animals 5,732 6,118 7%
declines in the crafts/hobbies/antiques/games and art/architec-
Biographies/Autobiographies 4,463 5,628 26%
ture/design/photography subcategories. Self-help had the Concepts 4,268 4,449 4%
largest unit gain within adult nonfiction; sales were 18% higher Education/Reference/Language 8,948 10,035 12%
than in 2016. You Are a Badass had another good year of sales, Games/Activities/Hobbies 10,849 10,116 -7%
selling more than 648,000 copies, and The Subtle Art of Not History/Sports/People/Places 13,454 14,873 10%
Holidays/Festivals/Religion 4,824 4,958 3%
Giving a F*ck followed, with 557,000 copies sold. The history/
Social Situations/Family/Health 2,918 3,552 22%
law/political science subcategory saw a 13% unit increase. Total 55,456 59,764 2%
Within history, Killing England was #1, selling more than
Juvenile Fiction
446,000 copies, and Hidden Figures was second, selling more
Animals 10,296 12,593 22%
than 417,000 copies. On Tyranny was the top-selling political Classics 10,258 9,607 -6%
print book last year, selling more than 250,000 copies. Concepts 9,169 9,917 8%
Juvenile fiction sales were about 2% higher than in 2016. Jeff History/Sports/People/Places 13,957 15,613 12%
Holidays/Festivals/Religion 9,974 11,190 12%
Kinney had two of the three bestselling titles in the year: The
Science Fiction/Fantasy/Magic 52,255 47,002 -10%
Getaway was at #1, with more than 992,000 copies sold, and
Social Situations/Family/Health 23,221 26,072 12%
Double Down was in third place, with more than 538,000 copies General Juvenile Fiction 48,913 64,399 32%
sold. In between those two was Oh, the Places You’ll Go! Units Total 178,043 183,600 8%
were 10% lower than in 2016 in the science fiction/fantasy/
SOURCE: NPD BOOKSCAN
6 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JANU AR Y 22, 2018