Marie Claire quietly ends US print edition after 27 years (nypost.com)

Unit sales of print books rose 6.4% in the week ended June 26, 2021, over the comparable week in 2020, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Adult fiction sales increased 28.1%, and the gains were achieved without any new releases making a splash. The President’s Daughter by James Patterson and Bill Clinton remained #1 on the category list, selling more than 30,000 copies. Two books released early this spring had good weeks: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry sold more than 21,000 copies, good enough for fourth place on the adult fiction list, and Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid was fifth, selling more than 18,000 copies. YA fiction sales jumped 49.6% over the week ended June 27, 2020, as books propelled by exposure on #BookTok continued to do well. Two such books, They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera and We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, finished first and second on this week’s category list, selling more than 17,000 copies and nearly 9,000 copies, respectively. The juvenile fiction category’s 11.2% sales increase was due in part to a new book: Alice Schertle’s Time for School, Little Blue Truck was #1 in the category, selling just over 24,000 copies.

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) released its StatShot report for August 2020 reflecting reported revenue for all tracked categories, including Trade (consumer publications), K-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses. Total revenues across all categories for August 2020 were essentially flat at $1.9 billion, an increase of 0.3% as compared to August 2019. Year-to-date sales were $9.4 billion, a decline of 4.6% as compared to the same period last year. Trade (Consumer Books) sales were notably up 6.9% year-over-year, coming in at $703.6 million. Year-to-date (January-August 2020) Trade sales were $5.0 billion, an increase of 5.2%, as compared to the first eight months of 2019.

As part of “Delivering for America,” its 10-year plan to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence, the United States Postal Service filed notice today with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) requesting price changes to take effect Aug. 29, 2021 that are in accordance with approvals provided by the PRC last year. The proposed price changes would raise overall Market Dominant product and service prices by approximately 6.9 percent. First-Class Mail prices would increase by 6.8 percent to offset declining revenue due to First-Class Mail volume declines. In the past 10 years, mail volume has declined by 46 billion pieces, or 28 percent, and is continuing to decline. Over the same period, First-Class Mail volume has dropped 32 percent, and single piece First-Class Mail volume — including letters bearing postage stamps — has declined 47 percent.