Sales of Print Books Rose in 2016

NapaValley-BookSign-CindyFazziPic
NapaValley-BookSign-CindyFazziPic

Unit sales of print books increased slightly (3.3 percent) last year, the third year in a row of growth, according to Publishers Weekly. Print-book sales rose by 2.8 percent in 2015 and 2.4 percent in 2014.

Citing figures from Nielsen BookScan, the publication said 674 million print books were sold in 2016. Nielsen BookScan tracks about 80 percent of print sales in the United States. Just under 626 million units of print books were sold in 2015.

The biggest gain came from nonfiction book sales, which showed a 6.9 percent growth from the 2015 figure. Print sales of adult fiction books declined by 1 percent, but juvenile adult fiction book sales increased 3.8 percent from the 2015 figure. J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” (parts 1 and 2), which sold 4.5 million copies, contributed to the growth of young adult book sales.

Read the Publishers Weekly story:

Print Book Sales Rose Again in 2016

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