Nielsen BookScan
Encyclopedia
Nielsen BookScan is a data
provider for the book
publishing
industry, owned by the Nielsen Company. BookScan compiles point of sale
data for book sales.
which tracked point of sale
figures for music, the Nielsen Company decided to launch a similar service for book sales. Nielsen BookScan was launched in January 2001. Previously, tracking of book sales, such as by the New York Times Best Seller list
, was done without raw numbers. The New York Times would survey hundreds of outlets to estimate which books were selling the most copies, and would publish rankings but not figures. Only the publisher of a book tracked how many copies had been sold, but rarely shared this data.
of Slate
has noted the increase of pundits using the figures to disparage each other.
BookScan also provided previously unavailable metrics on books published by multiple publishers, such as classic novels in the public domain
which may be published by many different houses. Previously, no single entity had figures for the sales of these books; publishers and bookstores only knew their own sales. Slate noted that Jane Austen
's Pride and Prejudice
was available from Amazon in 130 different editions; prior to BookScan there was no way to tabulate total sales. By summing BookScan data, however, Pride and Prejudice was reported to command sales of 110,000 a year, nearly 200 years after being published.
Data
The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...
provider for the book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
publishing
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
industry, owned by the Nielsen Company. BookScan compiles point of sale
Point of sale
Point of sale or checkout is the location where a transaction occurs...
data for book sales.
History
Following the success of Nielsen SoundScanNielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
which tracked point of sale
Point of sale
Point of sale or checkout is the location where a transaction occurs...
figures for music, the Nielsen Company decided to launch a similar service for book sales. Nielsen BookScan was launched in January 2001. Previously, tracking of book sales, such as by the New York Times Best Seller list
New York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
, was done without raw numbers. The New York Times would survey hundreds of outlets to estimate which books were selling the most copies, and would publish rankings but not figures. Only the publisher of a book tracked how many copies had been sold, but rarely shared this data.
Methodology
Nielsen BookScan relies on point of sale data from a number of major book sellers. Nielsen BookScan's US Consumer Market Panel currently covers approximately 75% of retail sales and continues to grow. BookScan does not track sales from Wal-Mart/Sam's Club or BJ's; Hudson Group's airport and train and bus locations were added to their reporting panel effective week 1, 2009.Use of BookScan
BookScan was initially greeted with skepticism, but is now widely used by both the publishing industry and the media. Publishers use the numbers to track the success of their rivals. The media uses the figures as a reference to gauge a title's success. Daniel GrossDaniel Gross
Daniel Gross is an American journalist and author, a former Senior Editor at Newsweek, and since September 2010 employed at Yahoo! Finance. A native of East Lansing, Michigan, Gross graduated from East Lansing High School and Cornell University , and holds an A.M...
of Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
has noted the increase of pundits using the figures to disparage each other.
BookScan also provided previously unavailable metrics on books published by multiple publishers, such as classic novels in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
which may be published by many different houses. Previously, no single entity had figures for the sales of these books; publishers and bookstores only knew their own sales. Slate noted that Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
's Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England...
was available from Amazon in 130 different editions; prior to BookScan there was no way to tabulate total sales. By summing BookScan data, however, Pride and Prejudice was reported to command sales of 110,000 a year, nearly 200 years after being published.