“Does this mean we’ve found the floor here? Probably not – the response to this pandemic is still in its early days.”
Catching up with PW's Andrew Albanese
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Even as U.S. trade book publishers announced furloughs and layoffs in response to the coronavirus crisis sweeping the globe, bookselling outlets that report to NPD BookScan reported surprisingly upbeat sales figures, according to Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer.
“After falling 10% between March 7 and March 14, print unit sales were flat in the week ended March 21, compared to the previous week,” he tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “Does this mean we’ve found the floor here? Probably not – the response to this pandemic is still in its early days.”
Less surprising, however, were the types of books driving these cheery sales numbers. Across the country, schools were closed and those parents who could worked from home.
“Speaking as a family with two kids at home, it’s no surprise there was a huge gain in unit sales in the juvenile nonfiction category, which helped to offset declines in adult nonfiction and juvenile fiction,” Albanese says.
“At the same time, print sales of adult fiction rose 4% over the previous week,” he adds. “The gain in adult fiction was driven by a 26% increase in the suspense/thriller segment and a 17% improvement in the science fiction genre. Which makes sense because we may need to learn how to survive a new dystopian reality!”
Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.
