Book sales

Despite working under the uncertainty of who their new owner will be, employees at Simon & Schuster were able to deliver a record year for the country's third largest trade publisher.

After a long run of surging profits from pandemic-era shopping sprees, Amazon is feeling the hangover. The retail and tech giant is reporting its first unprofitable year since 2014.

Amazon lost $2.7 billion last year, the company said on Thursday. This was despite holiday-season sales growing 9%. Amazon's shares fell in after hours trading.  Read more

Booksellers report that more customers are switching to paperbacks as household budgets tighten, with agents and publishers also predicting a shift towards the cheaper format.  Read more

For the first time since 2019, Nielsen was able to report data for the full year-and it seems most publishers have been reaping the reward of a bountiful few years, with a number posting all-time highs.

Sales of print books in the US fell by 6.5% in 2022 compared to 2021 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan, Publishers WeeklyInternational news website of book publishing and bookselling including business news, reviews, bestseller lists, commentaries http://www.publishersweekly.com/ has reported.

Sales totalled 788.7 million units last year according to the data, down from 843.1 million in 2021, though print unit sales in 2022 were still 11.8% above those from 2019, the last pre-pandemic year.