US print book sales fall 6.6% in first half of 2022

Unit sales of books in the US dropped 6.6% in the first six months of 2022, compared with the same period in 2021.

NPD BookScan figures show print sales came in at £362.6m, down from £386.6m a year ago, Publishers Weekly reported.

All the major categories except adult fiction had declines, with a large drop coming in adult non-fiction, where print sales fell 10.3%.

However, sales results taken half way through 2022 were still about 15% above the first six months of 2019. The 6.6% decline is also a better result over the first quarter, which saw an 8.9% drop in sales compared to last year’s first quarter, Publishers Weekly said.

Print sales of general non-fiction fell by 17.7% and biography and memoir falling by 15.3%. Sales of children’s books also declined, slumping in non-fiction by almost 10% and nearly 8% in fiction. However YA titles experienced a more moderate decrease in revenue, dropping by just 2.7% in fiction and 3.4% in non-fiction. 

Meanwhile, adult fiction continues to sell well and rose by almost 5% in the first half of 2022. Romance titles and graphic novels are performing strongly, experiencing gains of 33% and 10.5% increase respectively. BookTok favourites including Colleen Hoover’s Verity and Reminders of Him (Simon & Schuster) also boosted sales.