Book sales

Not exactly one hundred years of solitude, to use the title of a well-known novel, but the long coronavirus lockdowns gave many of us a lot more time to read.

By any measure, the first half of 2021 was a good period for trade book publishing. Revenue at the companies that report trade sales to the Association of American PublishersThe national trade association of the American book publishing industry; AAP has more than 300 members, including most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies' StatShot program rose 17.6% over the first six months of 2020; NPD BookScan reported that unit sales increased 18.5% in the period; and bookstore sales jumped 30% over what was a miserable first six months of 2020.  Read more

Online bookseller Bookshop.org is on track this month to surpass $15 million returned to independent bookstores since the company began in 2019. That figure is in addition to the $250,000 it donated to Binc's "Survive to Thrive" campaign. "It is a milestone we are anticipating surpassing by the end of July," Andy Hunter, CEO of Bookshop.org, said.

In a presentation that was part of Credit Suisse's 23rd annual communications conference, HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray said he sees no signs of consumer book spending slowing down in 2021-nor does he see the trend toward greater consolidation of the publishing industry cooling.  Read more

On Thursday, James Daunt, CEO of Barnes & Noble, gave the keynote address at the Independent Book Publishers Association's annual IBPA Publishing University, where he was in conversation with Karla Olson, publisher of Patagonia Books and IBPA chair.  Read more