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Trade books in the pandemic: Fair retail ending

28 May 2021
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The consumer books market has flourished during the pandemic: following early worries, publishers are reporting strong growth and profits

However, bookshops, the most important point of contact between the industry and readers, are facing their toughest challenge yet as ecommerce booms and continued home-working saps high street footfall                                                   

Publishers and authors are embracing new, online ways of promoting titles. These will require new ways of working, and are not substitutes for dedicated shops, which must be protected as much as possible

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Value in volumes: Books, midlists and retail

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Publisher tools to overcome these trends are weakening, while self-publishing has introduced fierce competition in price, if not yet quality

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  • Value in volumes: Books, midlists and retail

    23 March 2018

    There are signs of hollowing-out in the book trade: a lack of disruption at the top line obscures the fact that mid-selling breakthrough titles are becoming rarer, debuting authors is becoming more difficult and loyalty is declining

    Publisher tools to overcome these trends are weakening, while self-publishing has introduced fierce competition in price, if not yet quality

    To fight the tide, publishers will need to concentrate on the remaining points of differentiation, as well as preserving dedicated retail channels and changing conceptions around reader relations

    Access report