Surprise Ending for Publishers: In 2020, Business Was Good
With people stuck at home and so many other activities shut down, a lot of reading — or at least a lot of book buying — happened this year.
Barack Obama’s book “A Promised Land” was one of this year’s biggest hits.Credit...Cj Gunther/EPA, via Shutterstock
Dec. 29, 2020
Like everybody else, book publishers will be happy to see the end of 2020. But for many of them, the year has brought some positive news, which has been as welcome as it was surprising: Business has been good.
With so many people stuck at home and activities from concerts to movies off limits, people have been reading a lot — or at least buying a lot of books. Print sales by units are up almost 8 percent so far this year, according to NPD BookScan. E-books and audiobooks, which make up a smaller portion of the market, are up as well.