Print Book Sales Fall 10% in Six Months, According to Nielsen BookScan

Total unit sales of print books sold through the outlets whose sales are captured by Nielsen BookScan (approximately 70% of the marketplace) dropped 10.2% in the six month period ended July 3, falling to 307.1 million. Among categories, the biggest decline came in adult fiction with units off 25.7%, while  mass market paperback had the steepest decline among formats with units down 26.6% in the period. BookScan totals cover about 75% of the outlets where print books are sold. For a more complete report, see Monday's issue of Publishers Weekly.