The ongoing pandemic has brought on many challenges for many different industries. Publishing, in particular, has been impacted by book shortages due to a lack of resources. This ultimately affects the printing and distribution of books to booksellers. Despite these challenges, many publishers saw an increase in their book sales. Earlier this week, Bloomsbury reported record sales, and yes, the Harry Potter series is still one of their top sellers.
In addition to everyone’s favorite boy wizard, Sarah J Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses series has contributed to Bloomsbury’s high sales. Perhaps this is because these novels have blown up on Book Tok due to their fantasy content and sexual nature. To be fair, Book Tok certainly put this series on my TBR list. A non-fiction book that has also done well for Bloomsbury is Tom Kerridge’s latest cookbook. The pandemic not only encouraged new readers but also new at-home chefs to take on the world one book at a time.
Finally, Bloomsbury has also been lucky to add some award-winning authors to its roster. Abdulrazak Gurnah won the Nobel Prize in Literature back in August while Susanna Clarke won the Women’s Prize for Fiction for her second novel, Piranesi.
With the holidays coming up, many publishers are releasing statements about the shortages they expect to encounter. However, I’m sure many companies would rather be a little late with distribution because everyone wants to buy books than have tons of books that no one wants to buy.
In case you missed it, click here to read about how Penguin Random House is pledging to help indie booksellers during the shortages. And be sure to keep an eye out for Bookstr’s upcoming holiday gift guides.
FEATURED IMAGE VIA SLATE