New for 2010, Nielsen Bookscan now includes point-of-sale data from BJ’s Wholesale Club (over 180 stores); Meijer (with 190 supercenters); and The Paradies Shops (with over 500 stores in more than 70 airports and hotels).
Industry Statistics
2009 By the Real Numbers: US Units Down 3 Percent, and UK Off Only 0.5 Percent
One good idea for the new year is to not be too influenced by the popular press and their facile pronouncements about the “failing publishing industry.” As Crain’s noted last week, in the US unit book sales as tracked by Nielsen Bookscan were down approximately 3 percent for the year (which was only a “surprise” if you hadn’t been paying attention to the real numbers throughout the year). The biggest weakness was in adult nonfiction, down 7 percent. Also bear in mind that ebook sales–not currently tracked by Bookscan–jumped from roughly 1 percent of the percent to approximately 4 percent […]
The Last Decade in Books: The Biggest Thing that Didn't Happen
The annual season of round-ups and predictions covered not just the years past and ahead, but a full decade. We’ll be sharing our own thoughts on the biggest trade developments of the past ten years but first we’re leading the most significant thing that didn’t change at all in the oughts. Though there are regular predictions that the big six publishers will change and consolidate (Bob Miller is just the latest to suggest “the big six could be the big three in five years), we find it rather striking when you realize that the list of the biggest US trade […]
How the NBA Nominees Have Fared
With the National Book Award winners due to be announced on Wednesday evening, we took a look at what the marketplace has had to say so far about the fiction nominees. Unfortunately, the NBA nominations traditionally do not have a lot of impact on the marketplace. In both total sales to date as well as sales since the nominations were announced, Colum McCann’s LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN is the clear stand-out. With just under 2,400 copies sold in the last three full weeks as recorded by Nielsen BookScan, he has outsold the rest of the field combined (the other […]
E-Stats and More
Amazon has realized it was silly in a competitive world to offer international Kindle for $20 more, while keeping US-only Kindle going. So now the have reduced the price on the international model to $259, and will no longer sell the US-only model. Buyers who already paid more are being issued $20 reunfds. Separately, Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener confirms the obvious–that SuperKindle will acquire the same international capability “sometime next year.” Meanwhile, the promised offers bundling SuperKindle with newspaper subscriptions are just beginning–but it’s hard to see the value proposition for customers. In the Washington Post’s trial offer, SuperK is […]
Sales Stats, the Week After
According to Nielsen BookScan numbers released yesterday for sales through last Saturday, September 26, in the outlets tracked by the service Dan Brown’s THE LOST SYMBOL sold another 401,000 copies. (NB that BookScan does not currently include ebook sales. And in the UK, Symbol sold another 175,040 copies, reported by The Bookseller.) Diana Gabaldon’s AN ECHO IN THE BONE had the best opening sale for a new book last week, moving approximately 94,000 units. Second-week sales for Ted Kennedy’s TRUE COMPASS were approximately 69,000 copies, and the first full week of sales for the Oprah edition of Uwem Akpan’s SAY […]