Book lovers, get your holiday shopping done early this year—new and specific books are in short supply.
Quartz reports that supply chain issues are impacting major book production and warns that there will be an inevitable shortening of certain new book titles due to Covid-19 related issues. Even though the publishing industry as a whole faced major issues for the first time due to the pandemic, quarantine, and subsequent work shortages, the last quarter of 2021 will be especially difficult and worse compared to this time last year.
Earlier reports this month showed that there was an 18% sales jump in books in the first half of this year compared to the first half of 2020. The recent surge in mass book-buying by the public and continuous supply chain issues within the book industry has directly affected and slowed down book production for the rest of the year.
Besides the recent sales jump in books, physical book copies have been in major demand. However, this leads to a specific problem that stems from the paper mills. Specific items like paper towels and toilet paper are also impacted due to a shortage of both lumber and workers. China also prints and ships many books to the warehouses in the US and because of the many problems related to ocean freight, packing, and storage, there is no guarantee that the specific book titles that consumers want will be available. Independent bookstores will be hit harder than major booksellers due to limited resources.
A suggestion to make sure you get your desired books in time is to shop indie and early and make sure to preorder any titles that are available.
For a curated list of independent bookstores near you, check out Bookstr’s ongoing bookspot of the week.
Featured Image Via Publisher’s Weekly