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US Xmas books sales down

12.12.08 | Anna Richardson

The hoped for holiday boost for the US book industry did not materialise in early December. Unit sales slipped back in the first full week of the month, dropping 6.6% at the outlets who report their sales to Nielsen BookScan, according to Publishers Weekly.

For the week ending 7th December, total units were 20.7m, down from 22.1m in the week ending 9th December 2007, according to BookScan.

Units were off in both the adult fiction and nonfiction segments with nonfiction suffering the largest drop with units off 20.8%. Children’s fiction had the strongest week, with units up just over 24%. Sales in 2008 exclude input from non-traditional outlets.

• Anna Richardson
• Global
• Retail
• US