What are consumers reading? Are they buying books in print, or digital format? Are they devouring Fiction, or Non-fiction? Frontlist, or backlist works? What are the best sellers this month across the juvenile and adult book markets?
To help our clients answer these questions and navigate the rapidly changing U.S. publishing market, our Books industry team relies on both retail and consumer tracking to measure sales of physical and digital books, across all channels.
With NPD BookScan™, we track purchases at the point-of-sale from all major retailers, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Target, independent bookstores, and more. We also hear what Americans are reading, directly from more than 55,000 U.S. book buyers themselves, so we can help you identify buyer demographics, attitudes, behaviors, and purchase factors.
Our books industry experts know the publishing world inside and out, helping our publishers and retailers make better, faster decisions.
See What's Happening in Today's Licensed Book Market
Listen to a recording of our recent webinar that explores U.S. licensed book market trends. Learn the hot and not-so-hot licenses, see how they're ranked by category, and hear about how the licensed book industry is likely to fare this year.
Solutions
NPD BookScan™
NPD BookScan™ is the gold standard in POS tracking for the publishing market. It covers approximately 85 percent of trade print books sold in the U.S., through direct reporting from all major retailers, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Target, independent bookstores, and many others. Data is available to subscribing publishers and contributing retailers, just four days after the period ends, via the NPD BookScan dashboard.
BookScan License Reporting Service
For the first time ever, publishers and licensors can get a total view of their licensed and branded books to identify cross-industry opportunities, benchmark and track brand sales trends over time, and understand the formats, pricing, and categories that perform best in a license program.
NPD PubTrack Digital™
NPD PubTrack Digital™ is the only resource offering a comprehensive view of today’s digital book market. Featuring information from more than 450 participants, including small, medium, and the largest U.S. publishers, this service provides unprecedented access to the top 80 percent of the traditionally published e-book market.
NPD PubTrack Higher Ed™
NPD PubTrack Higher Ed™ is the premier market intelligence source for the college textbook publishing industry. This service compiles textbook sales information from institutions nationwide to provide the college publishing industry with intelligence tools that can be used in sales, editorial, and marketing.
NPD PubTrack Christian™
NPD PubTrack Christian™ is a data warehouse, aggregation, and analysis system that provides access to weekly book sales information from 225 Christian retail stores. Additionally, NPD PubTrack Christian is a collaborative publisher data-sharing program, which provides a complete channel view of the Christian book market.
NPD Books & Consumers
NPD Books & Consumers, the leading consumer tracker for the publishing industry, gathers data annually from more than 55,000 unique U.S. book buyers ages 13-84. The information covers a wide range of attitudes, behaviors, and purchase factors. NPD Books & Consumers data also includes full demographic profiles and ISBN-verified data on more than 100,000 book purchases per year.
Analytic Solutions
NPD’s Analytic Solutions group includes senior leaders with extensive experience developing and delivering analytic solutions that help clients predict areas of risk and growth to improve marketing and product development. By combining NPD’s unique data assets and industry expertise with state-of-the-discipline research techniques and proprietary solutions, our Analytic Solutions team is able to answer clients’ most pressing business questions.
Reports
Press Releases
Print Book Sales Rose 2 Percent in the First Half of 2018, The NPD Group Says
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 Rose 21 Percent, Year over Year, The NPD Group Says
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 Books Drove Growth in Print Book Sales, The NPD Group Says
Political e-books are also one of the few categories experiencing growth in digital book sales.
Instapoets Rekindling U.S. Poetry Book Sales, The NPD Group Says
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 Were 28 Percent of U.S. Children’s Book Sales in 2017, The NPD Group Says
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.
NPD BookScan Recaps the Year in Books 2017
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.
Familiar Classics Lead Top 10 Holiday Book Sales for 2017
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.
Book Sales Bright for the Holidays, Even as Annual Growth Declines Slightly
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.
Comics and Graphic Novels One of Highest Growth Categories in Publishing, Reports NPD
Year-To-Date Sales of Travel Books on the Rise in U.S., Reports NPD
According to global information provider The NPD Group, through the end of July 2017, print travel books have experienced 2 percent growth in unit sales, and an overall compound annual growth rate of 1 percent from 2014 to 2016 in the U.S. This is a notable turnaround after a steep 44 percent decline from 2010-2014, and proof that readers are returning to print guidebooks even in the digital age.
Insights
5 Things Smart Industries Are Doing to Engage Consumers
In this paper, released at Summer Outdoor Retailer, NPD's Industry Advisor Matt Powell looks to growing industries' strategies to fuel the outdoor sports market.
3 Ways to Foster a Seamless Consumer Experience in the Future
In the future, brands and retailers will adapt to increased consumer demand for more seamless experiences. See how this will impact every aspect of their lives—from the kitchen to the gym.
10 Trends You Should Know About Kids’ Licensed Products
Licensed products make up one quarter of U.S. unit sales for children ages 14 and under, across 17 industries. From backpacks to coloring books, to t-shirts and games, kids love the company of Harry Potter and Doctor Seuss characters alike. What industries, categories, and products are doing well across licensing, and how can licensed products fuel your business?
What's Happening in Today's Licensed Book Market
Listen to a recording of our recent webinar that explores U.S. licensed book market trends. Learn the hot and not-so-hot licenses, see how they're ranked by category, and hear about how the licensed book industry is likely to fare this year.
