Books Market Research & Business Solutions

Licensed books, featuring popular characters from movies, TV, games, toys and lifestyle brands, made up 12 percent of total sales and 26 percent of juvenile sales in the U.S., market in 2018.

2018 marked another year of modest growth for the print books industry in the United States. Print books sales volume grew 1.3 percent compared to last year with 696 million units sold.

Print book sales are trending upward, due to growth in adult nonfiction titles, specifically religious books, cookbooks, and political books. Sales volume in the first half of 2018 rose 2 percent, year over year, to reach 317 million units, according to The NPD Group.

Cookbook category sales are rising faster than warm dough so far this year. In fact, sales grew 21 percent in the first half of 2018 compared to the first half of 2017.

Political e-books are also one of the few categories experiencing growth in digital book sales.

The rising popularity of poetry on social media is driving a resurgence in poetry book sales in the United States. In fact according to global information company The NPD Group, twelve of the top 20 bestselling poetry authors in 2017 were “Instapoets,” who combine their original poetry with images, creating highly shareable posts on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr and other social media platforms. In fact, almost half (47 percent) of poetry books sold in the U.S. last year were written by Instapoets. Alongside the rise in Instapoets, the poetry book category in the United States has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 21 percent since 2015, making it one of the fastest growing categories in publishing.

Licensed books feature popular characters from movies, TV, games, toys, and lifestyle brands, where the publisher has paid the original intellectual property owner for the right to publish the character or property in book form. For all books sold in 2017, licenses made up 12 percent of sales, reaching 85 million units, and 28 percent of all children’s book sales last year, with 63 million units sold, according to global information company The NPD Group.

Without Harry Potter and other leading franchise titles upping the ante, print book sales in the United States returned to a more standard year for the industry in 2017. Unit sales of books increased 1.9 percent in 2017, which is slightly less than annual growth rates of 3 percent posted between 2013 to 2016, according to global information company The NPD Group.

During the holidays, many families like to get cozy, heat up some hot chocolate and snuggle on the couch with a good book. According to the latest NPD BookScan information from global information company The NPD Group, when it comes to holiday reading, families favor classics over brand new seasonal titles. In fact, unit sales of all holiday titles are up 10 percent so far this year, compared to last year. Among the top 10 holiday titles for kids, 9 are older titles, while just one was published this year.

While the annual unit sales growth of print books is expected to be slightly weaker this year than in the previous two years, global information company The NPD Group predicts a strong holiday season with 5 percent unit sales growth in the remaining five weeks. The print books market is on track to grow 2 percent in volume for the year, which is an underperformance against the annual growth rate of 3 percent in 2015 and 2016.

According to NPD’s 2018 Holiday Purchase Intentions Report one in five consumers plans to purchase books for the holidays.  Lifestyle books (think cookbooks and home) are front and center on in-store displays and top-of-mind for buyers.  These categories have been driving much of the growth in non-fiction this year with cookbook sales up 23 percent, so far this year and house and home sales up 24 percent.  I expect this holiday season to be the strongest we’ve ever seen for cookbooks, since NPD began tracking book sales in 2004.

Recent titles by beloved media personalities like Joanna Gaines’ Homebody, Ina Garten’s Cook Like a Pro, and Reese Witherspoon’s Whiskey in a Teacup are perfectly giftable titles that will sit at the top of the charts this season.  And while these types of books are always present around the holidays, November 2018 sales of the top five cooking and home books were more than double last year’s levels.

The fact that consumers are gravitating toward cooking and home books is not surprising, given recent success in the home products industry.  People are spending more time in their own homes, and they are willing to invest in improving their living spaces.  Books that promise readers an enhanced home life, either through decorating or cooking, will attract buyers in today’s environment.