Sales & economics
Circana BookScan
Also known as: BookScan, NPD BookScan, BookScan weekly sales report
A paid sales-tracking service, run by Circana and formerly by NPD, that counts print copies sold in the United States through participating retailers. It is an estimate of retail print sales, not every copy sold, and not the same thing as your publisher's royalty statement.
There are two different things with this name, and the difference matters. The industry product is a subscription that publishers, agents, and analysts buy, with full category and channel reporting. The BookScan weekly sales report inside Amazon Author Central is free, and much narrower: it shows copies sold for your bestselling titles over a period you choose, and nothing else. An author reading the free report is not seeing what a publisher sees.
- When you’ll meet it
- Amazon Author Central, publisher sales conversations, trade press
- Usually handled by
- Circana collects; the author reads the free report in Author Central; the publisher subscribes
Why it matters to you
It is the number the trade quotes, so it is worth knowing what it does and does not count. It misses sales through channels that do not report, and it is not your royalty statement. If you are reading the free report in Author Central, say so when you quote a figure, and give the date range.