NPD's Kristen McLean on US Book Sales During the Pandemic

"Demand has stayed up there," she says. "As far as actual units-out-the-door, people figured out how to get what they needed. And so I don't really think that demand is a factor." And this should sound good to most players in the book business.

"The book market historically is very resilient," McLean says. In the financial crisis that was triggered in 2008, "The book industry's worst year was 2009, and it was down four points."

But McLean's message is far from an all-clear, and it's important to point out, she says, that "how this looks depends on where you sit in the market."