The Pandemic Is Changing Book-Buying Patterns

Given all the disruptions to the global economy caused by the new coronavirus, unit sales of print books held up relatively well in the first quarter of 2020, said Kristen McLean, executive director, business development for NPD Books, in a webinar held last week. And though the unprecedented economic plunge makes it difficult to gauge how much of a drag Covid-19 will have on book sales in the long run, publishing has weathered previous turbulent times fairly well. During the Great Recession and its aftermath, McLean noted, unit sales fell meaningfully in only one year-2009, when unemployment was peaking-and units rose from 760 million in 2007 to 807 million in 2012. She added that the gains included the addition of e-books, and that between 2013 and 2019, unit sales generally remained flat.