Print Sales Rose 19.5% at the End of January (publishersweekly.com)
With all major categories posting double-digit gains, unit sales of print book rose 19.5% in the week ended Jan. 30, 2021, over the comparable week in 2020, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Unit sales of YA fiction soared by 50.6% over the week ended Feb. 1, 2020, and YA nonfiction sales rose 41.2%. In both cases it was strong across-the-board sales rather than one or two big bestsellers that drove the gains. In YA fiction, We Were Liars by E. Lockhart remained the top title, selling more than 11,000 copies. Brigid Kemmerer’s A Vow So Bold and Deadly was the bestselling new title, selling more than 7,000 copies. YA nonfiction sales were led by Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, which sold more than 3,400 copies. Juvenile fiction unit sales rose 32.5% and nonfiction increased 24% over a year ago. Alice Schertle’s Little Blue Truck’s Valentine stayed in the fiction top spot, selling just over 25,000 copies.