A passenger walks past a bookstore in Boston Logan International Airport on March 27. Image – Getty: Alexandre Fagundes
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Adult Fiction Leads US Print Fiction Sales in Q1
A drop of 1 percent in the United States’ market’s print book sales leads the report released today (April 21) by the consumer-market research company Circana BookScan.
Per this assessment, that represents a drop of 2.3 million units by comparison to Q1 2024.
Comparison is not without some difficulty this year, however, becuase of the relative placement of the “Easter shift” last year and this year.
In 2024, the Easter holiday was observed in late March, while this year’s Easter fell on Sunday (April 20). That difference of almost a month of course means the impact of the holiday, as a factor, is hard to assess.
However, Circana BookScan’s report sees adult fiction this year playing out as a key trend in analysis, just as it did last year.
The US adult print book market’s fiction sector has actually grown by 1.9 million units since January 1, in Circana’s figures. The leading genre groupings are romance and romantasy (fantasy-romance).
The author Rebeca Yarros’ Onyx Storm (Entangled / Red Tower Books) had a major breakthrough during the quarter, with a first-week sales performance that made it the fastest-selling adult title in BookScan’s research history. That first week’s tally comprised more than 1 million copies sold.
Circana’s team emphasizes that this proves the efficacy of a romantasy fan base driving fiction sales. On the other hand, classics also saw a lift in Q1, led primarily by backlist dystopian titles.
- By contrast, not only business and economics books but also health and fitness titles took the heaviest losses in the nonfiction side in the States’ first quarter. What’s interesting here, however, is that Circana’s team sees “more than 500 subjects in growth in 2025” in the nonfiction sector.
The report says that by the end of the first quarter last year, only 400 subjects were in growth mode. “Self-help, Bibles, religion, political science, and crafts and hobbies” are categories that stand out as bright spots this year, with gains posted.
The author Mel Robbins’ The Let them Theory:
Always of interest, the children’s book market in the United States saw fiction print sales down -3.2 million copies last year, with children’s nonfiction down -1.0.
The team notes, “Kids’ segments re heavily impacted by the seasonal shift and are expected to show improvement in the month of April.”
Meanwhile, the young-adult market (YA) showed some strength in Q1, unit print sales demonstrating growth of 0.2 million copies.
- The leading elements here were dystopian content and Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping (Scholastic Press, March 18)
Publishing Perspectives anticipates a new Association of American Publishers (AAP) StatShot report from within the first quarter, which may provide more insights on the first part of this year in the States’ market.
Circana BookScan’s Top-Selling 10 Titles in March 2025
Image: Circana BookScan, March 2025, United States, print only
More from Publishing Perspectives on industry statistics is here, more on Circana BookScan research is here, and more on children’s books and the markets for young readers is here. More on the United States book industry is here.
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