Choice Books home about us for retail partners for readers for publishers & authors news Print Book Unit Sales Thrive Amidst Covid-19 Between April and October 2020, in the midst of a mounting global pandemic, Publishers Weekly has tracked an upward trend in print book sales. While largely unpredicted, there have been a number of scenarios amidst the pandemic this year that have likely precipitated the rise in print book sales. Since people are staying at home more, there are more spaces of time across each day in which to read. Since social distancing measures have been taken for the majority of 2020, it is possible that people are craving (perhaps more than normal) a tactile reading experience, which eBooks largely fail to deliver. In the midst of growing uncertainty, people are turning toward printed material for sources of entertainment, information, education, and inspiration and direction. Following is a summary of month-end reporting of print unit sales trends, according to Publishers Weekly (PW). April “Strong gains in the juvenile categories offset weakness in the adult categories in the week ended Apr. 11, 2020, resulting in a 2.9% increase in print unit sales over the comparable week in 2019 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.” (Apr. 17, 2020, PW) “While the demand for print books has been historically steady… buying patterns have changed as a result of the pandemic. Between March 1 and April 4, demand spiked in such categories as outdoor skills (with print units up 74% over last year); medical history, including books on the 1918 flu pandemic (up 71%); games and activities (up 42%); and literary fiction (up 10%).” (Apr. 27, 2020, PW) May “Unit sales of print books rose 7.7% in the week ended May 16, 2020, over the comparable period in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.” (May 25, 2020, PW). “The release of Suzanne Collins’s prequel to her Hunger Games series in the week ended May 23, 2020, drove up unit sales of print books by 11.1% over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.” (Jun. 1, 2020, PW) June “In early spring, when the Covid-19 pandemic forced most bookstores to close and disrupted print book sales through Amazon, no one could have predicted that by summer unit sales of print books would be up 1.4% for the year to date over the same period in 2019, nor that sales would hit a weekly high for the year. But that is what happened in the week ended June 20, when unit sales from outlets that report to NPD BookScan topped 15 million—22.9% higher than the similar week last year—and total units sold for the first year hit 295.7 million, up from 291.6 million in the first 24 weeks of 2019.” (Jun. 29, 2020, PW) “With all the major categories posting gains, unit sales of print books jumpted 18% in the week ended June 27, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.” (Jul. 6, 2020, PW) July “With another strong showing by the juvenile nonfiction category, unit sales of print books rose 16.6% in the week ended July 18, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.” (Jul 27, 2020, PW) (Much of this increase was due to high-selling activist literature.) “With double-digit increases in all but one category, unit sales of print books rose 20.2% in the week ended July 25, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.” (Aug. 3, 2020, PW) August “With all but one category posting increases, unit sales of print books rose 8% in the week ended Aug. 22, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.” (Aug. 31, 2020, PW) “Unit sales of print books rose 7.1% in the week ended Aug. 29, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.” (Sept. 7, 2020, PW) September “Helped by the release of Bob Woodward’s Rage, unit sales of print books jumped 16.4% in the week ended September 19 over the similar week last year.” (Sept. 28, 2020, PW) “With the juvenile and YA nonfiction categories both posting better than 32% gains, unit sales of print books rose 10.3% in the week ended Sept. 26,2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.” (Oct. 5, 2020, PW) October “Strong gains in all categories led to a 13% increase in unit sales of print books in the week ended Oct. 24, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.” (Nov. 2, 2020, PW) “With gains in all categories, unit sales of print books rose 9.5% in the week ended October 31 over the comparable week last year.” (Nov. 9, 2020, PW) + + + Although the titles and genres driving such trends are varied (from juvenile fiction to entertainment to literary fiction, etc.), the data show that print units, regardless of genre, are selling more this year in comparison to the previous year broken down week by week, in spite of early-year projections that Covid-19 could cause print sales to plummet. Choice Books is poised during the season of Covid-19 and beyond as a leader in the marketplace distribution of high-quality, inspirational reading materials for people across the United States. (December 2020) Choice Books, 10100 Piper Lane, Bristow, VA 20136 | Phone (703) 530-9993 | Fax (703) 530-9983 | info@choicebooks.org Copyright © Choice Books, LLC, 2015. All Rights Reserved.