According to NPD BookScan, US print sales are down 2 percent versus last year but still ahead of 2019. Romance remains the strongest driver, with sales up 45 percent year to date. NPD analyst Kristen McLean notes that figure is “really saying something when you remember that romance was up 34 percent at this time last year also.”
Other notes:
- The nonfiction travel category is enjoying four years of sales growth.
- Adult nonfiction continues to struggle, with softness in categories such as longevity, aging, personal growth, and cookbooks in the health & healing and vegan categories.
- According to Bookstat (subscription required), which also tracks book sales, audiobook sales grew 22 percent last year, and self-published work accounted for more than half of all ebook unit sales.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
