Book sales

Yesterday's webinar "Publishing Now '21: Looking Forward," hosted by Westchester Publishing Services and Publishers WeeklyInternational news website of book publishing and bookselling including business news, reviews, bestseller lists, commentaries http://www.publishersweekly.com/, attracted more than 500 viewers, as industry insiders discussed the state of the publishing industry, the ways in which it has been changed by the pandemic, and the outlook going forward.  Read more

Much of the loudest buzz within the book business is of Random House's plan to swallow Simon & Schuster.

S&S among other advantages could enjoy more outlets for its books. But such a vision still reeks of "shuffling chairs on the Titanic."  Read more

It might be a picture of gloom and doom for most business sectors in 2020 though surprisingly, the publishing sector has come out unscathed from the vagaries of the pandemic. Sales have largely been positive across all segments of the book industry, which includes printed books, eBooks, and audiobooks.

A number of big summer bestsellers, a surge in interest in books on social justice, and ongoing demand by parents for children's books that both educate and entertain combined to continue to push up unit sales of print books through this year's third quarter. According to NPD BookScan, print unit sales rose 6.4% for the nine months ended Oct. 3, 2020 over the comparable span in 2019.  Read more

As the weather turns and the days shorten, as trees bend low with fruit and blackberries darken the hedges, bookshops are bracing for a bumper crop of their own. September and October are always rich, but this year is exceptional: nearly 600 books will reportedly be published in the UK on 3 September alone.  Read more