News
Is Poetry “the New Adult
Coloring Book”?
Hot Topic
Three years ago, an unpublished poet from Toronto took the stage at the semi;nals for the National Poetry Slam in Oakland, Calif. Sabrina Benaim was
visibly nervous as she read “Explaining My Depression to
My Mother” aloud for the ;rst time, delivering the deeply
personal poem in a breathless burst that has been immortalized in a You Tube video recorded at the event.
“I honestly can’t remember,” she said when asked by PW
to describe the experience. “I was panicking. I was just so
SOURCE: NPD BOOKSCAN AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. NPD’S U.S. CONSUMER MARKET PANEL
COVERS APPROXIMATELY 80% OF THE PRINT BOOK MARKET AND CONTINUES TO GRO W.
The Weekly Scorecard
Sales Stay Flat for a Second
Consecutive Week
At outlets that report to NPD BookScan, unit sales of print books
were 0.2% lower in the week ended Aug. 20, 2017, than in the similar week in 2016. It was the second week in a row in whi; sales were
basically flat; in the previous week, sales in;ed up 0.1%. The impact
of the release last year of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Cursed
Child continued to weaken, and unit sales in the juvenile fiction
category were just 2% lower than in the week ended Aug. 21, 2016,
when sales of Cursed Child were nearly 243,000, down from 484,000
in the prior week. The top-selling juvenile fiction book in the week
ended Aug. 20, 2017, was once again Wonder by R.J. Palacio, whi;
sold more than 25,000 copies. The juvenile nonfiction segment had
the best performance, with units up 8%. There was little movement
among the top category sellers; First 100 Words by Roger Priddy
was #1 on the list with more than 6,000 copies sold. Unit sales of
print books were 1% higher in the adult fiction category. Milk and
Honey by Rupi Kaur remained #1 on the category bestseller list,
selling more than 19,000 copes. Two editions of Jeannette Walls’s
The Glass Castle—the original trade paperba; and the tie-in edition
to the movie—combined to sell more than 30,000 copies. Print sales
in the adult fiction segment dropped 3% in the week, although two
new books debuted in the top two spots on the category bestseller
list: The Store by James Patterson and Ri;ard DiLallo was #1, selling
more than 23,000 copies, and Seeing Red by Sandra Brown was in
second place, selling more than 22,000 copies. The mass mer;an-diser ;annel continued to su;er the most with comparisons to last
year’s big sales of Cursed Child, with units in the week down 12%
from to a year ago.
UNIT SALES OF PRINT BOOKS BY CHANNEL (IN THOUSANDS)
AUG. 21, AUG 20, CHGE CHGE
2016 2017 WEEK YTD
Total 12,497 12,464 -0.2% 2%
Retail & Club 10,870 11,026 1% 4%
Mass Mer;./Others 1,626 1,436 -12% -9%
AUG. 21, AUG. 20, CHGE CHGE
2016 2017 WEEK YTD
Adult Nonfiction 5,329 5,381 1% 3%
Adult Fiction 2,732 2,654 -3% -0.2%
Juvenile Nonfiction 958 1,039 8% 3%
Juvenile Fiction 3,066 2,997 -2% 2%
UNIT SALES OF PRINT BOOKS BY CATEGORY (IN THOUSANDS)
AUG. 21, AUG. 20, CHGE CHGE
2016 2017 WEEK YTD
Hardcover 3,032 2,920 -4% 4%
Trade Paperba; 7,475 7,579 1% 2%
Mass Market Paperba; 1,148 1,055 -8% -8%
Board Books 477 543 14% 12%
Audio 74 57 -23% -10%
license publishing.
The addition of Chan,
Brallier, Stoltz, and others is
important to Jacobs. “New
people bring fresh ideas to
the company,” he explained.
Bringing in new talent and
finding new leaders is one of
Jacobs’s priorities.
After conducting a recent
employee survey, Abrams
stepped up its human
resource efforts in such areas
as diversity among staff and
engagement with millennial employees. One benefit of the
new office space, Jacobs said, is that it provides more opportunities for collaboration among different parts of the company, which appeals to millennials. Jacobs said he has been
encouraged that young people remain interested in book
publishing. “The caliber of candidates [for open positions]
has been quite high,” he said.
As for other potential areas for expansion, Abrams is
looking at getting into the fast-growing audiobook market
and may beef up its e-book business. Jacobs noted that, to
date, e-books have been a very small part of the company’s
revenue, so even a modest increase would be a nice boost to
sales. The company is also looking to do more special sales
and find more new traditional outlets, including looking
for someone to be its “eyes and ears” in the ABA market,
Jacobs said. Another potential area for expansion—
international sales—leads back to Abrams’s original area of
expertise: illustrated books, which travel well overseas.
Sales for the first half of 2017 were a little soft, Jacobs
said, but he is expecting a good finish to the year. “The
place feels vibrant,” Jacobs said. “Everyone is very passionate about what we do.” —Jim Milliot
continued from p. 8
The children’s books marketing
and publicity team discusses
strategy in a breakout room.
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