New Data From Circana BookScan: U.S. Book Industry Q1 Sales Results

From a Circana Release:

First quarter print book sales in the U.S. dropped 1%, or 2.3 million units, compared to the same time last year. The seasonal Easter shift is a key factor in first quarter performance. Easter 2024 fell in late March and in mid-April this year, leading to difficult comps for the month of March. Key trends measured in 2024 continue to play out in 2025, namely the strength in adult fiction.​

In the adult print market, fiction print sales grew 1.9 million units in first quarter, led by romance and romatasy. Adult non-fiction declined by nearly 0.5 million units, with business and economics posting the steepest losses. ​

• Adult fiction continues to be the strongest segment of the print book market. In Q1, Rebecca Yarros’ “Onyx Storm” broke week-one sales records to be become the fastest-selling adult title in the history of BookScan data with more than 1M copies sold. This underscores the dedicated romantasy fanbase that’s driving fiction sales. Classics also saw a boost led by back list dystopian titles. ​
• In adult non-fiction, business & economics and health & fitness saw the steepest Q1 losses. While the adult non-fiction segment is underperforming, there are more than 500 subjects in growth in 2025. This time last year there were just 400. Self-help, Bibles, religion, political science and crafts & hobbies are category bright spots posting gains. Mel Robbins’ “The Let Them Theory” is a standout front list title with more than 1M copies sold in Q1. ​

In kids’ fiction, sales are down -3.2M vs. last year while kids’ non-fiction is down -1.0. Kids’ segments are heavily impacted by the seasonal shift and are expected to show improvement in the month of April. ​​

The young adult market showed strength in Q1 with unit sales growth of 0.2M led by dystopian and Suzanne Collins’ latest Hunger Games prequel. ​

See Also: Top 10 Selling Print Books – March 2025 (via Circana)

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